Assam Marbled Tea Eggs

I have to be honest. There are many who rave about tea eggs. I’m not one of them. Which of course, makes no sense at all. I love tea. And I love eggs. I don’t see why a combination of both would be terrible.

But at the mall, each time I walk by the tea eggs stall, I try not to gag. I can’t stand the smell of tea eggs especially when I walk by the stalls that sell the in the mall. Most likely, I’m unused to the herbal smell of the tea eggs.

People rave about them tea eggs and I don’t particularly like feeling left out over a culinary delight. So off I search for a recipe for tea eggs that I think I would like. While it seems silly to hunt for a recipe, since you can easily buy tea egg herbs in a packet at the store but I reckon these packets would put me off tea eggs since the ones in Malaysia, and certainly in Asia would have all the traditional herbs.

In my case, I was looking for something more savoury that would bring out the flavour of the spices I love and of course the tea in a hard boiled egg.

Of course, since it’s meant to be a Chinese recipe, it would be appropriate if I used a Chinese tea. But since I’m already planning on bastardized version, I thought it would be fun to try various types of tea. For this recipe I started with Assam FBOP. It's strong enough to hold up chai, it can sure handle tea eggs. 

The result was something lightly flavoured with a lovely spiced tea smell. The family was generally pleased, except for Dad who was expecting telur pindang. But that is another tea egg recipe for another day. 

Chinese Tea Egg with Indian tea

Recipe (makes 6 eggs)

Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients

6 eggs

½ teaspoon 5-spice powder (optional)

¾ cup light soy sauce

3 heaped teaspoon of Assam FBOP

A few strips of tangerine peel

3 cloves

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp brown sugar

Directions

1. Put your 6 eggs in a saucepan and fill up the pot with enough water to cover the eggs. Bring it to a simmer and simmer for 3 minutes.
2. Take the eggs out but don’t drain the water out. Rinse the eggs under cool water until cool to the touch. Using the back of spoon, lightly crack the shell all over the egg – you don’t want to smash the egg in.
3. Transfer the water, eggs and the remaining ingredients into a slow cooker. Cook it on high for 2 hours and then leave to steep overnight.