Chinese Tea Eggs

I’m not a big fan of eating hard boiled eggs, but these Chinese marbled eggs look so beautiful that at least once a year I can’t resist making them. And what better time for that than Easter? I have to warn you though, they don’t taste as spectacular as they look. They mainly taste like… hard boiled eggs!  

Don’t use superfresh eggs, their membranes are so thick the marinade won’t penetrate easily, so the marble-effect can be very disappointing. I’ve tried quaileggs because of their nice snack-size. Great fingerfood, but it was hell peeling them.

RECIPE

Boil about 6 eggs for just 8 minutes or so. Rinse with cold water. Roll them on your worktop so the shell will crack. Or use a spoon and gently hit it all around. But don’t be too gentle. I’ve learned my lesson and also use my nails to lift some bits of shell here and there.

Boil water in a pan (enough to boil in the eggs later) and add:
1 or 2 bags of earl grey tea

I prefer removing the teabags after I think it has infused enough because I’m afraid the taste will get too strong/bitter. But I’m probably the only one in the world doing that.
Anyway, to this tea/liquid add:
7 T light soy sauce
4 T shaoxing rice wine
4 staranise
1 T sugar
1 stick cinnamon
3 slices of ginger
1 piece of mandarin peel
1 T sichuanpeppercorns

Bring to the boil, add back the crackled eggs and simmer for 1 - 2 hours. Take it off the heat. Let it cool down. Keep marinating in the liquid in your refrigerator overnight. Peel and serve as appetizer. Or, if like me, you actually don’t really like hard boiled eggs, mix the yolks with some mayonaise, add the cubed eggwhites back and serve on toast.

Tags: chinese eggs, 茶叶蛋, gemarmerde eieren, marbled eggs, tea eggs, thee-eieren