Friday, February 22, 2008
Posted by 醉茶生 at 09:00 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

A simple but delicious recipe is hard boiled eggs cooked in tea. None of the quantities are exact and you may vary the recipe as you wish.

Hard boil eggs (7 minutes) and lightly tap each one on a hard surface so that the shells develop a maze of cracks over their entire surface. Put all the eggs in a slow cooker with 10 to 15g of tea leaves (oolong or black; green tea does not work for this). Add half a bowl of soya sauce (I prefer dark soya sauce 老抽) and spices (I suggest star anise and cloves; but various combinations involving orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg also work well). Add water until the eggs are completely covered. Heat the water to just below a simmer and leave to cook overnight. Remove the shells before serving: the eggs will been beautifully stained with delicate cobweb-shaped patterns where the tea has soaked through.

If you do not have a slow cooker then a saucepan will do, but the method is more laborious. Bring the saucepan to boil and then immediately take it off the fire. Do this every two hours for around twelve hours.

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