Spicy Tea Eggs

This spicy tea eggs recipe is made from star anise and black Chinese tea. It’s so simple to make and the beautiful marbling effect is pretty awesome. But you know what? I would prefer to have the whole egg infused with the spice tea rather than have the marbling effect. The egg can be served as whole or cut in halves or quarters. It’s perfect as a side dish and also snack. Unlike the traditional Chinese herbal tea eggs, the liquid for this spicy tea eggs need to be discarded because it’s undrinkable! LOL And oh yes, this is my first recipe after coming back from the long Chinese New Year lazy break!

Let’s start cooking!

Hard boil the eggs for about 12 minutes. Soak the eggs in cold water to let it cool a little.

Gently tap the egg with the spoon all round the surface.

Place the eggs in the saucepan. Use good quality black Chinese tea leaves. In my case, I’m using pu-erh.

Add salt, light and dark soy sauce and star anise. Then, add water to cover the eggs. Bring the liquid to boil and then simmer for 50 minutes with the lid on.

Cool the eggs in the liquid for several hours. The longer it infuses, the better (stronger flavor).

I let mine sit in the liquid for 3 hours. The spice flavor is not very prominent so I think it should be infused longer than this.

Spicy Tea Eggs
Adapted from The Chinese Kitchen by Deh-Ta Hsiung
For 5 persons

Note: Allow 1 to 2 eggs per person as snack or side dish.

10 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 tabelspoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
5 whole star anise
4 tablespoons good quality black Chinese tea leaves (I use pu-erh tea)

Method:
1. Hard boil the eggs for 12 minutes. Then soak the eggs in cold water to cool a little.

2. Use a spoon and gently tap on the eggs surface.

3. Place the eggs in a saucepan. Add salt, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, star anise and tea leaves. Add water to cover the eggs.

4. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently covered for 50 minutes.

5. Cool the eggs in the liquid for several hours. The longer it infuses, the better (stronger flavor).

6. To serve, peel off the shell. Discard the liquid as you cannot drink it unlike the liquid for traditional herbal Chinese eggs.