Tea Eggs

Once Easter is over, one is typically left with lots and lots of eggs. Instead of egg salad or deviled eggs, why not try these Chinese tea eggs. Boiling/soaking eggs in a mixture of tea and spices creates a lovely pattern that reminds me of celadon pottery. The eggs are so beautiful that it's almost a shame to eat them -- almost.

Note: This particular recipe calls for a dozen eggs, but you could make fewer if you wanted to. However, the eggs take quite a while to cook/soak, so you might as well make a lot of them.

Tea Eggs

Ingredients:
1 dozen hard-boiled eggs, cooled -- do not peel
12 bags of black tea or about 1/4 cup of black tea leaves
3 to 4 Tbsp soy sauce
Approx. 2 tsp salt
Approx. 2 tsp. five-spice powder

Directions:
Using the back of a spoon, gently tap the eggs until their shells are cracked all over. Do not peel the eggs.

Place the eggs into a pot of water. Add enough water to cover the eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients. (Note: If I'm using tea bags instead of leaves, I cut the tags off so that they don't burn on the stove.) Bring the pot to a boil.

Turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for about 40 minutes. Stir occassionally.

Turn off the heat and cool the eggs in the liquid for about an hour.

Peel the eggs and serve. You can also refrigerate them up to 3 days.