Monday, November 14, 2011

The Distracted Cook and Chinese Tea Eggs

Do you remember seeing those funny looking eggs sitting on bars or resting on plates in Chinese Restaurant windows - the ones with the funny lines all over them? And did you wonder what they were? And if anyone ever ate them?

Well never fear - the Distracted Cook took the latest Daring Kitchen challenge and guess what it was?? Right! Chinese Tea Eggs!

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

They were really fun to make and the ingredient list was about as short as it can get.
Here it is:


Yes, that is the complete list! Eggs, tea bags, salt, and chinese five spice. The first thing to do is to put the eggs in a pan and cover them with cold water, just like this:



After you let them simmer for 12 minutes, you remove them from the pan and tap them with a spoon so that the shells are cracked all over, just like this egg is:


Then they all go back into the pot of water and you add the two tea bags, salt, and five spice. Cover the pan and heat gently for an hour.  After the hour is up, let the eggs sit in the covered pan for 30 minutes.


Take one of the eggs out of the water and peel it to be sure it is dark enough. If so, peel the rest of the eggs.


Arrange the eggs in a container. When you are ready to eat them, slice or quarter them and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top. Enjoy!

Now, didn't that look like a smart, fun, and easy thing to do? You can have just as much fun if you join us at The Daring Kitchen. Come on, you know you want to have as much fun as we all are. We'd love to see you next time!