happy new year!

hello! did you have a good new year? mine was sort of _____. it was actually quite a good day even though i had to go to work; but, i didn't get to celebrate, and my dinner sort of sucked. boo. i hope it's not a foreshadowing of the year to come. i wasn't able to cook anything special for the lunar new year, but did manage these tea eggs during the last half of a project runway mini-marathon. simple snack tastiness + high fashion drama = excellent evening in the banana household. :sigh:

tea eggs are a popular asian street food, prepared by simmering boiled eggs in a tea, soy sauce and spice mix. the marbling comes from a light cracking of the shell, and a long simmer time. surprisingly, even after a couple hours in the hot bath, the egg white does not become super-rubbery, and the yolk remains creamy. the flavour of the tea and spices permeates, but in a subtle way. i can't say i notice the spices all that much, but the smokiness of the tea and the light touch of salt enhance the flavour of the otherwise everyday egg. if this egg were a metaphor for how the rest of the year will be, i would say that it would be solid, sunny, with a touch of erratic glamour. i'll take it! and happy new year to you all.


tea eggs

6-8 eggs
water, enough to cover eggs

1 tsp salt
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 teabags (i used oolong)
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
black peppercorns
2 long strips of orange peel, with most (or all) of the white pith removed

place eggs in saucepan with water. bring to a boil. turn off heat, leave eggs in pan for 10 minutes. remove eggs from pan (save water), tap them with the back of a spoon to crack the shells, keeping the shells intact.

return eggs in water with tea, soy sauce, peel, and spices. add more water to just cover the eggs if necessary. bring back to a boil, then simmer for two hours. or, do this step in a rice cooker; after the boil, set the rice cooker to "warm" position, and leave the eggs for two hours. peel one egg as a test. if the colour isn't dark enough, leave the eggs in the simmering mix for longer, or store the (unshelled) eggs immersed in the liquid in the fridge overnight.