Tea Eggs

Hard boiled eggs are kind of boring and lacking in delicious. However, hard boiled eggs that have steeped in tea and spices are pretty darn good. Also, they're a pretty healthy snack that's easy to make in bulk. And they're cute! What's not to like? Ok, I don't like the yolks but I'll tolerate them for the rest of the tea egg.

I'm still figuring out how hard to hit them so they marble nicely, but you'll accept this in the meanwhile, right?

A billion recipe variations of tea eggs hang out on the internet. Some recipes involve no tea at all, in fact! I put together a recipe that makes Steve happy, and his mom makes some pretty perfect tea eggs. I'd love it if she'd show me her tricks!

To make some tea eggs for yourself, take a small pot and put as many eggs in as can fit in one layer. You squeeze them in like this because you don't want the eggs bouncing around too much. I usually use a tiny pot with 5 or 6 eggs.

Fill the pot with enough water to just cover the eggs. Boil these for just two or three minutes. Turn off the heat, use a slotted spoon to extract the eggs, put the eggs in a bowl, and rinse with cold water until the eggs are cool enough to touch. Pick up one egg at a time and hit it lightly with the back of a metal spoon.  You want to crack the eggshell everywhere just a bit so that the tea and spices can seep in to make the egg flavorful and beautifully marbled. Don't go overboard and smash the eggshell otherwise your whole egg will be black everywhere.  Return the eggs to the pot of hot water. Add

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 stars of anise
• 2 tablespoons black tea 
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (a small stick of cinnamon would have been better but we didn't have any)
• a couple black peppercorns

Then simmer the eggs in this dark concoction for 45 minutes. Turn the heat off, but keep the eggs in the liquid for at least a few more hours to soak up more flavor. 

When you peel off the eggshell, the egg will have a beautiful, ornate decoration from the tea seeping in between the cracks of the eggshell. These are so much more attractive than normal hard boiled eggs!