What do I do with matcha?

Matcha has definitely found its way to us by now. The green tea ground into powder is versatile and you can experiment with it a lot. We take a look at what you can try with cooking matcha in this article.

Snacking

Green cookies, green ice cream and co!!! Here are three simple ideas for foodies:

Matcha ice cream

Even in small supermarkets you can buy ice cream with matcha in Japan. What is an everyday food there is still a specialty in this country. Make your own matcha ice cream for the hot days. For water ice, you can fill cooled matcha tea into suitable containers and place them in your freezer until the contents are frozen. For creamier ice cream, you can mix products such as quark or yogurt with Matcha powder and freeze them. Both variants taste especially delicious if you sweeten them a bit. Herbs like lemon balm or mint go well with it. You can either chop them up and stir them in before freezing or put them on top in the form of whole leaves as a decoration when serving. Citrus fruits, such as lemon, lime or orange, also look great in green ice cream. Try your hand at it!

Green baking fun

Green cakes, muffins and co - looks strange to us at first. But lovers of Matcha will be happy to hear that the ground green tea can be wonderfully stirred into batter and creams. So you can not only try out new recipes, but also spice up your existing favorites. For example, marble cake looks particularly chic when you color the light dough green with a little matcha. Also a sponge cake roulade or cheesecake are suitable for an easy start in the matcha baking world. Often small amounts of powder (1 to 2 tablespoons) are enough to color the entire batter. Don't be put off by the fact that the dough smells a bit strongly of green tea when raw. As it bakes, this intense smell disappears and the finished cake smells much more appetizing.

Chocolates with a green touch

For chocolates, there are now a lot of recipes. As a beginner, you can add some matcha to the filling or sprinkle the powder decoratively over the finished chocolates. This alone makes quite a visual impact. If you want to enclose chocolates with a green coat, you can add some matcha powder to melted white chocolate and dip the finished chocolates in it.

Drinks

Besides the traditional preparation of Matcha tea, there are other possibilities:

Matcha Latte

Matcha Latte - a classic! For this you need about 1/2 tsp matcha powder, 50 ml hot water and 200 ml foamed plant drink (e.g. soy, almond or rice). You can also use regular cow's milk.
To make sure your matcha latte doesn't have any lumps, first put the powder in a small bowl and pour the hot water over it. Stir until the green powder is well dissolved. It works especially well with the typical matcha whisk. Now pour the stirred liquid into a heat-resistant glass or cup and then add the foamed soy milk. Depending on your preference, you can sweeten your matcha latte with honey or agave syrup.

Matcha Summer Drink

It doesn't always have to be the hot drink. For hot summer days, you can take only the cold version instead of foamed plant drink (see Matcha Latte) and enjoy the green drink with ice cubes. Coconut water or a little lime juice, for example, also go well with the summer drink. If you prefer it sweet, you can sweeten your summer matcha drink with cane sugar, xylitol or erythritol.

Matcha in a smoothie

A typical smoothie is made by blending fruits or vegetables, liquid (e.g. juice, water, plant-based drink) with herbs, spices, nuts or seeds. Matcha powder also fits well into your smoothie and colors it neatly green. To contrast the somewhat tart taste of green tea, sweet fruits, such as banana or pineapple, go especially well. Perhaps you start with a little less matcha powder and feel your way slowly. Herbal drinks with almond or soy harmonize especially well with the green tea powder.

Savoury

There is also room for green tea powder in savory cuisine. We have picked out two examples for you:

Noodles with Matcha

You can actually buy soba noodles with matcha. These go well with zucchini, ginger, besam, soy sauce, citrus and mint, for example. If you don't have ready-made matcha noodles on hand, you can spice up regular soba noodles (or any other kind of noodles) yourself with some matcha powder. Just stir it in after cooking and season to taste.

Green Hummus

Green hummus with matcha! Either add some matcha to your favorite natural hummus recipe or use this variation here: Approx 1 can of chickpeas (or soak dried chickpeas overnight), 1 tbsp sesame paste, 2 tbsp lime or lemon juice, 40 g fresh spinach leaves, 2 tsp matcha powder and 2 tbsp olive oil. It is best to put all the ingredients in a blender and season the finished green hummus with salt and pepper.