Taiwanese Tea Egg | 日月潭茶葉蛋

A tea egg is the perfect easy and healthy snack. These eggs are flavorful with a blend of simple spices and tea. This recipe is adapted from a famous tea egg seller at Sun moon lake in Taiwan and it has a secret ingredient no other tea eggs online uses. You can make this recipe in 30 mins but soak the eggs overnight for the best results and flavor.

 

Tea eggs was a street food and can be now seen at every convenience store in Taiwan. It is incredible how popular these eggs are and every vendor has their own secret recipe. These eggs also remind me of road trips with my dad when I was little.  Dad often had trouble finding food he’s willing to eat(super picky eater), but he knew he could always count on these tea eggs being consistently delicious. Tea egg was a must-have with all our road trips.

 

EGGS

We’ve been buying eggs at the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market since we’ve moved here. Our eggs of choice are the medium-sized from Prosper Valley Farm. Eggs at the farmers market vary greatly, there is everything from medium to jumbo and also duck eggs! Eggs sold out fast and you know they’re fresh. Fresh eggs can be hard to peel when boiled, a farmer told me that he had to let his fresh eggs stand for one month before he could even get them to peel easier and that explains how “fresh” eggs from the supermarkets are.

 

TEA

You can use any tea you like, really. BUT not the herbal tea, that’s not the same. Growing up in Asia, tea is leaves from a tea plant processed a certain way. There’s usually a fermentation process to develop a unique flavor. Dried flower steeped in hot water isn’t really “tea” to me.

A few common tea varieties you can use for the tea eggs are: black tea, oolongTieguanyin, and Pu-er. Pick the tea you like but black tea is easily accessible and gives the eggs a beautiful, dark marble. The darker the color of the tea is the more beautiful the marble will be.


 


SECRET INGREDIENT

There’s a super famous tea egg stall at Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan. Their eggs are so popular they sell thousands of eggs every day. Taiwanese food is amazing because they make good use of what’s local and available. Sun Moon Lake is surrounded by black tea plantations and mushroom farms in the mountains. The old grandma that sells these delicious eggs incorporated the local produce into her batches of tea eggs- black tea and dried shitake mushrooms.

 

The dried shitake mushroom is a common ingredient in Taiwanese cooking. It’s meatier than the fresh mushroom and has a distinct aroma. It smells less like a fungus, it’s woodier and full of flavor. That’s the secret to the extra layer of flavor to the Sun Moon Lake tea eggs.

 

Taiwanese Tea Eggs | 日月潭茶葉蛋

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Tea eggs are the perfect easy and healthy snack. These eggs are flavorful with a blend of simple spices and tea. This recipe is adapted from a famous tea egg seller at Sun moon lake in Taiwan and it has a secret ingredient no other tea eggs online uses. You can make this recipe in 30 mins but soak the eggs overnight for the best results and flavor.
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Asian, Chinese, Taiwanese
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 8 Eggs
Author Choochoo-ca-Chew

Ingredients

  • 8 Eggs
  • 2 TBsp Black Tea
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/3 C Soy Sauce
  • 1 Dried Shitake Mushroom
  • 1 Star Anise
  • 1 Inch Cinnamon Stick
  • Water

Instructions

  • Clean the eggs.
  • Place all the ingredients in a pot with eggs in one single layer.
  • Cover with enough water and bring to a boil over high heat.
  • Boil for 7 minutes.
  • Remove the eggs from the pot, chill them in cold water and crack the egg shells. (Don't peel them)
  • Move the eggs back in the pot and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
  • Turn the heat off, let cool, peel and serve immediately or store the unpeeled eggs and sauce in a container and let it soak overnight in the fridge for even more flavor!

Other Delicious Egg Recipes:

SHAOXING DRUNKEN CHICKEN | 簡單紹興醉雞

SOFT BRAISED EGGS | 超簡單溏心蛋

TOMATO SCRAMBLED EGGS TAIWANESE STYLE | 台式番茄炒蛋

 

 

 

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CHOOCHOO-ca-CHEW

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