Crocodile steak with Ying Nu Huang(Lapsang Souchong)

So, Ripon. Does this mean you aren't a vegetarian anymore?

Michael

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Michael:

You might forget, you had chicken kabob in my house during our Washington DC tea fiesta. I was never been a vegetarian?-:)

Ripon Maputo, Mozambique

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Ah, yes! How silly of me. But, on the other hand, couldn't chickens be vegetables? After all, the South African government was able to designate the Japanese white and the Chinese colored to accommodate their trading needs, so why can't......? Never mind.

Michael

Michael:

hmmm... got your point. I didn't mind-:)

Ripon Maputo, Mozambique

And a fine meal it was, many thanks once again.....

Now if I remember correctly the shrimp in that part of Africa are quite large and tasty, what tea would you have with them?

Mike

This kind of ties in with the "cooking with tea" thread... shrimps probably goes well with Long Jing. cuz there's a Chinese dish in which you cook shrimps and Long Jing. but of course I assume that not a lot of spice should be put in with the shrimp or else you wouldn't be able to taste the Long Jing at all...

Katie

Hi Mike,

You are right about huge tiger prawn(can be 6-10cm.), shrimps, lobster(they are gigantic), Indian white banded shrimp, Ninja shrimp and many fishes. Buying shrimp is not cheap because most of them are for export market. You have to buy many types of shrimp with high price but the advantage is 100% fresh. If anyone compare side by side the fresh shrimp and frozen shrimp- you know, what I am talking about. There are also difference between fresh water and salt water shrimp. They have both here and two different taste.

I can't stop myself to share this interesting and funny experience about local fish market in Mozambique. They sell all kind of shrimps, lobster and fish per kg. Every time if the fish sellers scale show 3kg shrimp actually it is 1 and half kg or maximum 2 kg. So, you have to have your own scale or use government market scale. Every fish market here has a small tin shade room where they have a scale. You take the bag from the fish seller and check with that government scale and pay

10 cents for the service. The fish sellers always act, what's wrong then say- ok friend, this scale is better then mine and smile. Another interesting thing is- they always display the largest shrimp on the top of the pot but when they pack your shrimp, they start giving you the small one. They know foreigners don't want to deep their hands as local customer. I bought a pack of disposable hand gloves and deep my hand inside the pot and choose only the large shrimps. It is so much fun to buy fish and shrimp here. Now a days some of the sellers know my habit and from the beginning they ask a different price for the large shrimp and different price for the small shrimp. I never allow my cook to buy my fish or shrimp because sometime, they make some sort of understanding with the fish sellers.

I love to eat shrimp couple of times a week and now a days I cut down my meat meal 75% from my daily menu. I feel really healthy with shrimp and fish.

With shrimp, my choices are-

Light Formosa Oolong only (No Wuyi Oolong) Keemun Mao Feng(If the shrimp dish has extra garlic and salt) Light Lapsang Souchong(with spicy fish and shrimp curry or Tandori lobster or tiger prawn) Japanese green or Wu Xi Hao (Any green tea which has full body and mouthful ,buttery taste)

Mike you told me once before, you like shrimp. You know that, I love to cook. Here is a wonderful shrimp recipe from Mozambique:

Shrimp Pili-Pili(In US, they call it Piri Piri spice):

Pili-Pili is the generic name for African chiles as well as the name of this shrimp dish from Mozambique. Shellfish is abundant off the coast, and the prawns are so large that a couple will make a meal. The marinade not only goes well with shrimp or prawns, but also with fish and chicken. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.

Marinade:

1 tablespoon crushed dried African birdseye chile

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup peanut oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice, fresh preferred

1 pound large shrimp or prawns, shelled and divined

Melt the butter and add the oil and the remaining marinade ingredients. Simmer for a couple of minutes to blend the flavors. Transfer to a ceramic bowl.

Toss the shrimp in the marinade and marinate for a couple of hours in the refrigerator..

Thread the shrimp on skewers and grill over charcoal or broil, until the shrimp are slightly browned and done.

Note: Double the marinade recipe and use it as a sauce over the cooked shrimp. and serve on the side.

Yield: 4 servings

Heat Scale: Hot

Enjoy.

Ripon Maputo, Mozambique

Just a quick note about that recipe (if I may just toss this in Ripon, pardon me) but never use marinade that has raw fish or meat etc. sitting in it as a sauce unless you first heat the marinade (after you take the shrimp out) to germ-killing temeratures. Y'all probably know this but I thought I'd mention it.

Recipe sounds mucho tasty Ripon, I like especially the lime juice with seafood!

Melinda

Melinda:

Your point is well taken. Thanks for your tips, specially when I am eating shrimp quiet often. This is the one reason why I love to post here. Wonderful way to exchange of information. Thanks again.

Ripon Maputo, Mozambique

Frozen shrimp (or squid) is a bit like chewing on rubber bands. The best squid I ever had was in Valencia, Spain. Spain is a great country for good food, though they are no tea drinkers. Destination this summer is Athens. The national non-alcoholic drink there, is Frappe (Cold nescafe with ice).

Hmm...I need to try LS with fish and chicken.

I ate a baby lobster last week. At first, I was concerned because I used to scuba and am well aware that there are legal size limits. But, so many seafoods are farm-raised now and size limits don't apply to them. The restaurant is inspected periodically as was the one that got closed down for having cat carcasses.

(The baby lobster was good and so was the green tea that was served with it.)

LOL - have you noticed that every exotic or "different" food tastes like chicken?

Please continue your posts. If I can't do these things myself, at least I may experience them vicariously.

Nope, I didn't know it - thanks for posting.

Yup. Lime is g-o-o-d.

Wow, thanks Ripon, I will try this soon. I think I may have had that dish when I was in Mombasa Kenya, or at least something similar. What an interesting time, too bad I wasnt into tea then.

Mike

yeah, but bluesea....but.....but......oh, never mind.

I don't think I ever would have thought of drinking LS with chicken and fish, much less croc steak, y'know.

You bring to "germ-killing temperature" the sauce of your tahitian salad, of your ceviche, of your kimchi ? I eat 6 month marinated raw shrimps very often. Anyway, most of the stuff that cause seafood intoxication are resistant to heating. Your dish will be only 1% safer than mine.

Kuri

It's worth pointing out that most marinades are acidic or saline enough to retard most bacteria.

Also, uh, your real problem is the raw meat, not what you're soaking it in. Properly handled seafood isn't likely to kill you. Improperly handled seafood, probably won't matter what you marinated it in.

The best advice is probably to stick closely to tried & true methods. There's a big problem of food poisoning in inuit ('eskimo') culture right now because they have a lot of delicacies that are 'fermented'. The problem is that instead of fermenting their seal blubber and whatever else on the cold ground, outside, in a breathable container, they've taken to fermenting it in sealed tupperware on top of the refrigerator.

The really nasty bugs are anaerobic.

Yeah, I know Kuri, I eat sashimi too. But still, those are the food safety handling recommendations that I have heard so I thought I'd pass them on. Someone eating raw fish with full knowledge is one thing, someone eating it out of ignorance when it may have been sitting on the counter for an hour is something else, IMO.

I would hope (though I do not know this) that heating would at least kill parasite eggs and it WILL kill E.Coli, if one is marinating raw beef (not the recipe but another possibility)

I heard the story from my fishmonger of one person who tried to cevich raw salmon (unfrozen.) The person I talked to said the woman saw lots of little white worms crawling out of the salmon to escape the lime juice. So..the only sashimi salmon I'll eat is frozen. (There IS a parasite specific to raw salmon...maybe west coast US raw salmon, I don't know, that causes big problems..native salmon fishers see it in their dogs in Alaska during harvest season when the dogs eat the leftover raw salmon) Anyhow..I guess my point is that all food is contaminated to some extent but it helps the eater to know ways of cutting down or minimizing the bad effects of contamination. And that's what I was speaking to.

Melinda

If some of you think- it is disgusting to talk about this

Don't let them worry you, if you give fair warning in the subject line it can be avoided by those who may be offended.

As for me, I enjoy your stories, keep them coming.

btw- Near (oh say 60 miles away) where I live there is a Wild Game restaurant, they are supposed to serve only legally obtained meats, one time I understand they had Lion on the menu.

My friend who's family came from the Louisiana portion of the United States relates he has tried Alligator and found it 'fishy'.

Or was it Crocodile?

TBerk