Tea eggs are a popular Chinese snack made by boiling eggs, cracking the shells, and simmering them in a mixture of black tea leaves, soy sauce, and spices. The longer they marinate, the more flavorful and colorful they become. Other Chinese egg dishes include century egg, soy egg, salted duck eggs, and balut.
A tea egg is a Chinese snack enjoyed by many people in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is a favorite among Chinese communities and is growing in popularity around the world. While there are various recipes for making tea eggs, they are typically prepared by boiling eggs, gently cracking the shells, and simmering them in a mixture of black tea leaves, soy sauce, and spices. The flavor of the spiced mixture seeps into the egg through the cracks in the shell, resulting in a flavorful marinated egg. In addition to the flavor added to the egg by this process, simmering the egg in the spice mixture lends a marbling effect to the cooked egg white.
To impart maximum flavor and color to the tea egg, the simmering process can continue for several hours. Alternatively, the egg can be simmered for 20 minutes, left in the liquid mixture, and placed in the refrigerator for a few days to marinate. The longer the tea egg sits in the blend, the more flavorful and colorful it will be.
Common variations on the traditional tea roe recipe include making them without the use of tea leaves or removing the shells before steeping them in the spiced mixture. Chinese five-spice powder is often used as an ingredient in this Chinese snack. The five spices contained in this condiment are Szechuan peppercorns, ground cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise and cloves.
Other Chinese egg dishes include century egg, soy egg, salted duck eggs, and balut. Traditionally, century eggs are made by coating eggs in clay, ash, rice hulls, lime, and salt for an extended period of time. This process causes the pH levels of the eggs to rise, resulting in a flavorful snack with a pungent ammonia or sulfur odor. Soy eggs are cooked in water, soy sauce, spices and sugar to produce a food that is commonly eaten alone as a snack or combined with other foods as a meal.
Despite their name, salted duck eggs are sometimes made from chicken eggs. They are eggs that have been preserved in brine or a charcoal paste. Unlike tea roe, soy roe, and salted duck roe, balut is an egg that has actually been fertilized. A balut has a partially or fully formed chick or duckling inside. The egg is prepared in the same way as traditional hard-boiled eggs and eaten while still hot.
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