Chinese tea eggs 茶叶蛋 -- great breakfast for on the go

A great beat-the-heat recipe because you can cook an
entire week's worth of breakfasts in one pot.

The first place I found these little gems mentioned, I thought the recipe book referred to them as Japanese tea eggs, but a friend from Japan says he never heard of these before.

Then I saw eggs just like them in the book Culinaria Southeast Asia: A Journey Through Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. They were called cháyè dàn (茶叶蛋 ), pronounced chah-yay dan where the marks represent rising or descending tone respectively. You could think of it like saying chah? yay! dan!

The Chinese tea eggs were prepared exactly the same way as the other cookbook had specified. So I think these really are Chinese. Not Japanese, as I had been thinking all this time.

In any case, these marble eggs have become my go-to summer breakfast. They look very elegant no? But they are so seriously simple, a child could make them. And they are a great beat-the-heat recipe. You can cook an entire week's worth of breakfast in one pot in just 20 minutes! They are Super fast! Super easy! What's not to like?





These will pair very well with the steamed pork buns in my previous post. Just add some fresh fruit in season to complete the meal. That'd be blueberries right now. And that's exactly what I had for breakfast the day I made these eggs. Enjoy :)

Ingredients: eggs, soy sauce,
star of anise, black tea

Tea eggs

茶叶蛋 
cháyè dàn

In a medium-sized sauce pan place:

5 to 10 eggs

water to cover

Boil about 20 minutes. The last three minutes add:

3 black tea bags 

four or five star of anise 

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

The cookbooks recommend
simmering 3 or 4 hours
but that puts a sulfur ring
around the yolks. Instead
I just steep them in the fridge
two or three days before eating.

Remove the eggs from the pan after the 20 minutes are up and let them cool enough to handle.

Crack them gently, leaving the shells on the egg. You'll have spider vein cracks all over the egg.

Not gonna lie. Wantonly
breaking all the eggs is fun. :)

Place the eggs back in the pan with the tea water and let them steep overnight. They will keep all week in the liquid, picking up more flavor each day.

When you're ready for breakfast, you can simply peel and eat them ....

Or you can slice them up and sprinkle with some sesame seeds and a splash of sesame oil and soy sauce. You could even add sliced green onion and red pepper flakes if you're feeling feisty. Sometimes, I do.