Marbled tea eggs – two versions (茶叶蛋)

Like many dishes, families have their own recipes for tea eggs. But they all share the same principle: steeping hard boiled eggs in a liquid darkened and flavoured by tea, soy sauce and spices.

To me it’s like giving (plain and dry) hard boiled eggs a makeover. Not only does the steeping process add a flavourful taste to the eggs, it also gives the eggs an interesting appearance.

Normally the egg shells are cracked (but not peeled) before adding to the the flavoured liquid. This will lead to a marble-like pattern on the egg white when peeled. In addition, egg yolks become less dry than the ones found in normal hard boil eggs.

In terms of tea, you are pretty free to choose whatever is available in your cupboard. My mum and dad use loose green tea or jasmine tea since they are the most common types in Chinese households.

I discovered that black tea bags are a great choice too. They are darker, stronger, cheaper (in Europe) and they save your time: you don’t need to deal with tea leaves which become stuck to the eggs.

I have two versions of tea eggs for you: comprehensive and simplified. The differences are as follow:

1. Use individual spices of your choice VS using Chinese five-spice powder.
2. Crack the egg shells VS peel the egg shells. If peeled, eggs can be steeped for a shorter time, but they will become brown all around instead of having a marble look.
3. I add quail eggs and peanuts in the comprehensive version. This is purely my personal touch. Quail eggs are smaller hence the flavour will be stronger than that of hen eggs. Peanuts cooked this way are delicious as a snack (It’s common in China to braise peanuts with spices).