茶香排骨

Braised Pork Ribs in Tea Leaves....This is not a dish which may appeal to anyone, do not attempt this dish if you are not adventurous enough! Hubby commented slightly bitter, maybe I've added too much tea leaves, but overall it taste fine with me, I should say it taste 甘甜 rather than bitter!  It taste slightly herby with fragrant from the green tea leaves and five leaf ginseng (JiaGuLan). 

绞股蓝 also known as 七叶参  or  known in several English terms as Five Leaf Ginseng, Poor Man's Ginseng, Sweet Tea Vine....

This may looks alien to you but this herb tea is believed to reduce blood cholesterol, keep blood pressure in normal range. It has a component which is related to whats being present in ginseng, therefore it was named as Poor Man's Ginseng :D This is the first time I experiment this herb into cooking other than drinking it as a tea :D 

fresh JiaoGuLan : pic extract from Wikipedia

This is a premium green tea leaves from Hangzhou, 千岛湖 known as 千岛银针, you may use other chinese tea leaves e.g.. 普洱茶 Pu'er tea which is a black tea.

Ingredient

• 500gm prime ribs
• 10gm dried green tea leaves or Pu'er tea
• 10gm Jiaogulan
• 4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (omit this if using Pu'er, I added this for deep coloured gravy as I'm using green tea leaves thus the gravy colour is on the lighter side)
• 2 stalk spring onions
• 10gm ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 650-800ml water (depends on how much gravy you like)
• salt to taste

Method

1. Blanch ribs in boiling water for 1 min. Rinse and drained well.
2. Place tea leaves in a disposable muslin bag.
3. Place all ingredients, except salt, in a pot and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour and gravy reduce. Add salt to taste.