Black Lychee Tea Smoked Lobster & Mango
Lobster smoked over black lychee tea, brown sugar, and rice, then wrapped in rice paper with ripe mango, jicama, fresh herbs, and bean thread noodles. A spicy mango-sambal dipping sauce ties it all together.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
50 minCOOK
20 minREADY
70 minThis is restaurant-level cooking brought home. Whole lobster tails get smoked over a fragrant blend of black lychee tea, brown sugar, and rice until they pick up a delicate, floral smokiness you can’t achieve any other way.
Once cooled and sliced, the smoked lobster goes into rice paper rolls alongside ripe mango, crunchy jicama sticks, julienned mint and basil, and silky bean thread noodles dressed with fish sauce.
The dipping sauce is a quick puree of fresh mango, chilli sambal, and lime juice that brings heat, sweetness, and acid together in one bright punch.
Chef Tips
- Blanch the lobsters just until barely cooked through before smoking. They finish cooking in the smoker, so starting them rare prevents rubbery, overcooked meat.
- Get the hotel pan screaming hot before adding the smoking mixture. Immediate contact with high heat is what gets the tea, sugar, and rice smoking quickly.
- Seal the foil tightly. Any gaps let the smoke escape, and you need that concentrated cloud to infuse the lobster in just 10 minutes.
- Wrap finished rolls in plastic wrap and let them rest 10 minutes. This compresses them and keeps the rice paper from drying out and cracking.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat deep hotel pan until very hot.
Add rice, sugar and tea to deep pan and immediately place lobster in the shallow perforated pan on top.
Quickly seal with aluminum foil.
When smoker starts to smoke, smoke lobster for 10 minutes over low heat or until cooked through.
Cool lobster then slice tails into long strips.
Combine jicama, mint, basil, bean thread and toss with fish sauce.
Soak rice paper in warm water and place some of the mixture on the softened paper.
Inlay smoked lobster strips and mango slices. Roll and let stand 10 minutes.
Individually wrap rolls tightly with plastic wrap to ensure keeping in the moisture.
For sauce: Blend all together.
Should have a purée consistency.
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