Tea egg, also called marble egg, is a traditional Chinese breakfast food and snack. It is a hard-boiled egg with strong flavors. That’s why in Chinese, it is called “Five-scented” eggs (五香蛋). Tea egg is easy to make and is a perfect replacement if you don’t like plain hard-boil eggs. Hope you enjoy this recipe and try it out sometime! [source]
Ingredients
12 eggs
1g bay leaves
2g fennel
1g grounded cinnamon (or 1 cinnamon stick)
2 star anises
3g black tea leaves
15g dark soy sauce
25g light soy sauce
30g sugar
20g salt
650g water
Step 1: Cook the eggs in a pot
Our way of cooking the eggs is to put them in a pot, cover the eggs with water, bring to boil (without cover) and then turn off the heat. Remain covered for 5 minutes.
Step 2: Combine the spice and cook for 3-5 minutes (Optional)
Combine the spice and liquid (bay leaves, fennel, cinnamon, star anises, tea leaves, 2 soy sauces, sugar salt & water) in another pot. Stir with a spoon and bring to boil. Then turn to small heat and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Step 3: Crack the eggs
Take the eggs outside the pot and crack them. Note that the eggs can be very hot so an oven mitten is recommended! The more cracks we get, the more flavorful the eggs are. We just want cracks on the eggshells, so try not to break the eggs open.
Step 4: Combine the eggs and the sauce. Keep warm for at least 18 hours.
We use the instant pot and its “keep warm” function. Any pot will do!
Step 5: Taste the eggs!
