Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

Recipe from Chichihehe

Ingredients:

• 10 to 15 or so eggs, hard boiled, shells gently cracked, not pealed*
• 4 c. (1 L.) of water
• 1 T salt
• 2/3 c. (150 ml) soy sauce
• 1/2 oz (15 g.) Oolong 烏龍茶 or black tea 紅茶
• homemade spice mix/pack**, see options below

Spice Option 1: 5 spice 五香滷水滷包 (the complicated option)

• 3 g. 花椒 sichuan peppercorns (~1 t)
• 2 g. 丁香 whole cloves (~1/2 t)
• 2 g. 小茴香 fennel seeds (~1/2 t)
• 6 g. 八角 star anise (~4 pieces)
• 4 g. 桂皮 stick cinnamon (1 stick)
• 4 g. 甘草 licorice root (~4-5 pieces)

Spice Option 2: Basic (the easy one)

• 2 slices of ginger root
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 3 star anise
• 2 or 3 pieces of dried tangerine peel
• 1 t of sichuan peppercorns 0r cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Put the eggs, water, salt, soy sauce, tea, and spice mix/pack into a non reactive pot. Make sure all the eggs are covered by the liquid and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Turn off heat leave all the ingredients in the pot and let the eggs soak for at least 2 hours (I prefer 5hours or more).
3. Serve the eggs or store them in the fridge in the liquid. (The liquid can be frozen and reused)

notes *Boiling eggs. I prefer the following method; put eggs in a pan with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Turn heat to med-high bring eggs to a boil and turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the water for 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. When cool enough to handle gently crack the shells with the back of a spoon… Also as you will notice by the following that the Taiwanese seem to boil their eggs a little differently; They use 10 eggs, 1 L of water, 2 T of salt and boil according to the following directions: 將雞蛋，水，鹽一起放入鍋中， 開小火慢慢煮滾，滾約 3分鐘後再將雞蛋取出用冷水沖涼。I didn’t really notice much of a difference in the outcome.

** Spices can be put into a spice bag or a large mesh tea ball for convenience, but this is not absolutely necessary.