Tea eggs

Whenever we travel to China, there is one thing I always get for a snack: cha ye dan, or marbled tea eggs. Tea eggs are incredibly easy and fun to make – simply cook the eggs, crack, then simmer in a tea broth, and finally steep in the broth overnight. The flavour seeps in through the cracks and spreads through the entire egg. It also leaves beautiful marbled lines from the gentle cracks of the shell. I use star anise, cinnamon, five spice, sugar, soy sauce and orange peels as my flavourings, but you could use other spices – cloves, nutmeg, maybe even some bourbon.

Credit: Betty Liu

• makes

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1:10 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 2 tbsp Chinese black tea leaves
• 60 ml (¼ cup) soy sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 strips orange peel
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 star anise
• ½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns or black peppercorns        
• dash of Chinese five-spice

You will need to begin this recipe 1 day ahead.

Steeping time overnight

Instructions

Place the eggs in a single layer on the bottom of a saucepan. Cover with cool water so the water is 2.5 cm above eggs. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then remove from heat, cover, and stand for 4 minutes to soft-boil. Drain and rinse immediately with cold water for 30–60 seconds.

Gently crack the eggs with the back of a wooden spoon until the entire surface is cracked. Gently return the eggs to the saucepan and refill with water, until the water just covers the eggs.

Add the tea, soy sauce, cinnamon, orange peel, brown sugar, star anise, peppercorns and five-spice. Stir to combine. Bring the mixture to the boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes (for cooked but still soft) to 1 hour (for cooked and hard-boiled). Cool to room temperature, then steep the eggs in the liquid overnight in the fridge.

Remove the shells from the eggs and serve. Discard the cooking liquid or re-use with another batch of eggs.

Recipe from le jus d’orange by Betty Liu, with photography by Betty Liu.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.