Tea Eggs

The centuries old Chinese technique of marinating eggs in tea and spices makes them look like beautiful marble.

Different types of teas yields different colors. Green tea makes lovely yellow shades, Red Zinger purple hues, Lemon Zinger green striations, and black tea an assortment of golden brown tones. You can try this technique with any sort of egg-- chicken, duck or even with delicate and delicious quail eggs.

Accompany the tea eggs with tiny bowls of salt, like orange tinged Hawaiian salt or flavorful gray salt. Serve the eggs with flaked dulse, dried red seaweed that has a lovely purple cast and a delicate briny taste.a

Steep the tea in 2 cups of boiling hot water in a bowl large enough to hold all the eggs. Remove the tea bags or strain, if using loose tea.

Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, star anise, peppercorns, cloves, fennel, and cinnamon. Reserve.

Gently tap the hard-boiled eggs on a hard surface until they are completely covered with fine crack lines. Place the eggs still in their shells in the tea mixture and marinate overnight.

Peel and serve accompanied by salt.

© Francine Segan, Opera Lovers Cookbook (Stewart,Tabori & Chang, 2006)