Tea Eggs
Tea egg is a Chinese snack food. It is also known as marble egg because the cracks in the eggshells are marble like. Tea eggs is commonly sold by street vendors in night markets in Chinese communities. I ate it in Hongkong’s night market and found it to be delicious. Tea eggs originated in Zhejiang province as a way to preserve food. If you go to Chinese grocery store in South East Asia and china, a large glass or plastic jar full of tea eggs can be found in the checkout counter. Did you know that egg is one of the foods that has the highest biological value protein. Eggs prepared into tea eggs has a delicious flavor that is undescribable. Try it.
It’s a great snack food. Don’t forget, it is high in cholesterol, limit intake to (1) 3 times a week if you have high cholesterol level.
If you are not using pasteurized eggs, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly when handling raw eggs. No worries salmonella is killed when you make hard boiled eggs.
Ingredients
12 large fresh eggs
1 tsp star anise
1tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp fennel powder
2 cloves
1tsp 5 spice powder
1tbsp soy sauce
4 sachet of black oolong tea
How to prepare
- In a medium sauce pan put the raw eggs. Add water to cover all the eggs in the pot and about 3 “above the last egg.
- Turn heat to high and bring eggs to a simmering boil about 6 minutes.
- Turn heat off. Leave eggs in hot water for another 6 minutes. After 6 minutes remove eggs from hot water using a slotted spoon. Put aside the hot water and eggs.
- Gently hold one of the eggs and gently tap the shell gently in a clean counter. Do this all over the egg. Repeat until all the egg shell has been gently cracked.
- Add the star anise,cinnamon,cloves, 5 spice powder and soysauce to the hot water where the eggs were boiled.
- Put cracked egg in the above mixture.
- Simmer for 3 minutes.Turn off heat. Let stand for 5 minutes to steep eggs with the flavorings.
- Remove eggs from the mixture. Cool. Peel when the eggs are cooled.
- Enjoy
- Discard boiling liquid.
Serve 12 (snack)
