Tea Eggs
- Serves: 6 as a snack
- Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes
- Total Cooking time: 30 minutes
An exotic and yet very easy alternative to serving devilled eggs as an Hors d’oeuvre, tea eggs are a traditional Chinese recipe that are beautiful to look at as they are delicious to taste, taking on a delicately marbled appearance and a mellow yet very savory flavor from being kept in a marinade of strong black tea and soy sauce. You may want to keep some of these on hand as they keep relatively well in the refrigerator and make great snacking for a poker night, as well as a part of another recipe that will be following in the next couple of weeks to come.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | large | eggs |
| 8 | bags | black tea (use a variety such as Oolong or Pekoe) |
| 6 | cups | very hot (near boiling) water |
| 1/2 | cup | soy sauce |
| 1/8 | tsp | Chinese 5 spice powder (available in most markets in the asian section) |
| 1/4 | tsp | garlic powder |
To prepare:
Place the eggs in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Bring to just to a boil and turn off the heat letting the eggs sit in the water another 20 minutes (this step can be done the night before) drain off the water and let the eggs cool. Meanwhile, place the tea bags into the 6 cups of water and steep 5-10 minutes until very strong. Remove the tea bags and squeeze them thoroughly. Next, add in the soy sauce, 5 spice powder and garlic powder and stir well to blend. Crack the eggs when cool but do not peel them and add them back into the tea mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer the eggs at least 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit at least 1 hour, preferably overnight in the liquid. To serve, peel the eggs, discarding the shell and serve either whole, or quartered as an appetizer or part of a salad.
