This Recipe for Candy and Savory Boiled Eggs Brings Me Again to My Childhood in Singapore

In Singapore, the place I grew up, there was a tea egg stall subsequent to the prepare station close to my residence, and the intoxicating odor of soy sauce, tea leaves, and heat spices typically enticed me to purchase an egg for the stroll residence. The snack—which consists of hard-boiled eggs which can be usually marinated in a aromatic combination of soy sauce, tea, and heat spices like cassia bark or cinnamon, cloves, and star anise—is frequent in lots of elements of Asia, together with Taiwan and Hong Kong. After the eggs cook dinner, folks faucet the shells with a spoon to kind a positive internet of hairline cracks that permit the liquid to seep by, producing the egg’s signature marbled look when peeled. 

Most culinary historians imagine that tea eggs originated in China, the place legend has it that through the Qing dynasty, folks boiled eggs in a pot of tea for comfort—why make tea and eggs in separate pots when you might make them collectively in the identical pot? As tea-boiled eggs grew to become extra in style, those that couldn’t afford costly tea leaves made up for utilizing low-quality tea leaves by infusing the tea leaves  right into a grasp inventory or braising liquid fairly than water. 

I now dwell within the Netherlands, the place there are not any tea eggs to be discovered except you make them your self. Fortunately for me, they’re straightforward to make—and with my recipe under, you possibly can recreate this basic snack at residence.

The Greatest Tea to Use for the Marinade

The steeping liquid for the eggs typically consists of unfastened leaf oolong tea, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and spices, although the precise mixture used varies from place to position and cook dinner to cook dinner. As a result of tea is essentially the most dominant taste right here, utilizing high-quality loose-leaf tea—which is extra strong and nuanced than most bagged teas—is crucial. The kind of tea can differ: many tea egg traditionalists suggest black tea, oolong is commonly utilized in Taiwan, and a few favor jasmine tea for its floral profile. Pu-erh is a good selection if you wish to use black tea, and I’ve used each Tie Guan Yin, an oolong tea, and Xiang Pian, a aromatic combination of inexperienced tea leaves and jasmine blossoms. Each labored nicely: The Tie Guan Yin eggs had been subtly smoky, whereas the Xiang Pian eggs had delicate floral notes. In the end, you should utilize whichever tea that you simply like; what issues greater than the sort of tea you utilize is its high quality. Whereas some imagine that the kind of tea impacts the color of the tea eggs (the darker the tea, the darker the eggs), its impact on the colour of the eggs is pretty minimal; fairly, how a lot soy sauce you utilize within the marinade is a extra vital issue.

The way to Obtain the Signature Marbled Look

I take advantage of a mixture of sunshine and darkish Chinese language soy sauces within the marinating liquid, each as a result of the darkish soy sauce  provides the eggs a darker hue and since they’ve totally different taste profiles, so utilizing them each provides the eggs a extra nuanced taste. If you happen to don’t have darkish soy sauce, although, you might simply use mild soy sauce. I do suggest utilizing Chinese language or Chinese language-style soy sauce for each the darkish and lightweight soy sauces since their flavors are totally different from different soy sauces, akin to Japanese ones. 

To provide the eggs their distinct marbled look, it’s important to create well-defined cracks that can permit the liquid to seep by. In my expertise, the easiest way to do that is by utilizing  the again of a spoon to rigorously crack the eggs throughout. You don’t need to apply a lot strain that enormous areas kind between the shell and the egg (this produces patches of darkish brown fairly than the specified mottled impact), however you do need well-defined cracks for the liquid to seep by. Whereas some imagine that tea eggs should be boiled within the marinade to completely infuse it with taste and coloration, I’ve discovered that steeping it within the marinade for not less than 24 hours achieves the identical impact. 

Making a batch of those eggs takes me straight again to my childhood. I can virtually hear the rumble of the trains.

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