Chinese Herbal Tea Eggs/Marbled Tea Eggs

Chinese Herbal Tea Eggs (or also commonly known as Tea Leaf Eggs or Marbled Eggs) is a nutritious and healthy snack that can be found throughout China and in most parts of South-East Asia. These are hard-boiled eggs infused with the flavors of tea leafs and various Chinese herbs and spices.

Here, I have listed a list of herbs and spices for you to try. You can also opt for the popular Malaysian "Bak Kut Teh" spice recipe, or widely known as “BKT” in Malaysia. Anyway, you can easily obtain either the herbs and spices listed, or BKT spices at most Chinese grocers here in Vancouver. Do try to make these healthy and delicious tea eggs, then, tell me which spice you prefer.:-)

*This is an updated post with a video cooking guide. (Previously posted on 08/03/11)



Chinese Herbal Tea Eggs/Marbled Tea Eggs

Ingredients

12 Large Hard-Boiled Eggs
6 Cups of Water
40 to 50 grams Rock Sugar
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
4 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
4 to 5 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

Herbs & Spices Bag
14 grams (3 Tbsp) Pur-Erh Tea/Black Tea/普洱茶
2 grams Cassia Bark
2 pcs Star-Anise
2 grams Dried Tangerine Peel
2 grams Nutmeg, pounded
2 grams Radix Codonopsis, Codonopsis Root (Dang Shen ) 党参
3 grams Solomon's seal (玉竹 yu zhu)
3 grams Angelica Root/Dang Gui/當歸
14 grams Rehmannia root/gan di huang / sheng di/乾地黃/生地
2 grams American Ginseng/西洋參 / 花旗參
2 grams Sichuan lovage rhizome/Ligusticum/chuan xiong/川芎
2 grams Largehead atractylodes rhizome/bai zhu/白朮
2 grams Liquorice root/gan cao/甘草



Method

Place all the tea, herbs & spices in a spice bag.

Combine the water, light & dark soy sauce, sea salt, rock sugar and spice bag in a large pot or saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, lightly tap all over the hard-boiled egg shells with the back of a spoon to create a marbled-like cracks.

Then, add the eggs, and continue to simmer for at least twohour. For best result, steep the eggs overnight and reheat before serving.

Note: You can reuse the broth for another batch of tea eggs.