Chinese Tea Eggs (Cha Ye Dan) Recipe
Pin RecipeThese Cha Ye Dan can be eaten as little treats on their own. You can also serve them on top of rice or noodles or even on your breakfast porridge.
Servings: 12
Equipments:
- saucepan
Ingredients:
- 1 dozen large eggs
- ¾ inch ginger (sliced)
- 3 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon Oolong tea (or your preferred tea)
- 6 cups water
Spice Mix:
- 3 pieces star anise
- 3 pieces bay leaves
- 1 piece Cinnamon (about 3 or 4 inches in size)
- 5 cloves
- 1½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 grams rock sugar (or 2 teaspoon brown sugar)
Instructions:
Prep the Tea Mixture
- Take a large pot or pan and combine the whole spice mix, the soy sauces, and the ginger with water. Don’t add the tea at this stage.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Take the pan off the stovetop, add the tea leaves to the hot liquid mixture, then set aside and allow it to cool.
Boil the eggs
- Take another pan, large enough to hold 12 eggs, fill with lightly salted water, and bring to a boil.Reduce to a simmer and gently place the eggs into the water, making sure they are fully immersed. Simmer for a further eight minutes.
- While the eggs are simmering, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl using cold water and a few ice cubes.When the eggs have simmered for eight minutes, take the pan off the heat and transfer them into the ice bath.
Marble the eggs and marinate
- Remove one egg at a time from the ice bath and, using the back of a large spoon, gently whack the shell all around.If you cooked your eggs to be softer, you would need to handle them carefully, or you could squash them and render them unusable.
- Transfer the eggs into the marinade, and marinate for a minimum of 24 hours. The longer you marinate them, the stronger the flavor will be.I usually marinate my eggs for approximately 48 hours.
Notes:
- If you like your egg yolks to be a little more firmly set, increase the cooking time by 2 to 3 minutes.
- Dip the knife blade in the water before cutting your eggs for serving, doing this makes a smooth cut and the knife won’t stick on the yolk.
- Never attempt to reheat the tea eggs on the microwave as they can potentially “explode”. Instead, bring water to a boil, pour the hot water into a dish bowl (deep enough to submerge the eggs), then gently add the eggs you want to warm. Let the eggs sit for 3 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 91kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 164mg | Sodium: 511mg | Potassium: 86mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 258IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 1mg
Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.
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