FOOD NEWS
Eggs Soft-Boiled In Tea Are Nature's Most Flavorful Breakfast
By Heidi Chaya
Often found as street food or on convenience store shelves, tea eggs date back to 18th-century Southeast Asia and look as striking and unique as their taste. Once you get past the notably long preparation time, tea eggs make an incredible breakfast, snack, or food topping, and they’re surprisingly simple to make.
After soft or hard boiling your eggs, let them sit out for a few minutes or place them in ice water. Then, gently crack their shells without breaking the egg white, and soak them in a mixture of black tea, soy sauce, and warmer spices to create eggs that have an umami flavor and marbled appearance.
For proper preparation, let the marinade simmer in your ingredients for about 10 minutes, and refrigerate the eggs in the marinade for 12-24 hours. According to Maggie Zhu, this elongated marination process gives tea eggs their signature firm and chewy texture, and she suggests pairings like rice and soup where the yolk mingles with the broth.