 |
| Chinese Tea Eggs with semi-marbled finish and Balsamic Soy Sauce 'Lovely! So creamy.' 'The sauce is perfect with the eggs.''Delicate flavours' |
But the truth is, they are a challenge. The soft, creamy, delicately flavoured orbs can very quickly turn from culinary delight to rock hard, chalky protein bullets.
And the marbling, which requires time, patience and incredible skill to separate the shell from the membrane surrounding the egg, must be one of the most frustrating procedures in catering.
Still, if you want an impressive low-cal, lower-salt course for a buffet or dinner party, this is the one to go for. They're prepared 3 days before they're needed and 67 has worked out how best to cook them without boiling them to perdition.
Many years ago, the Blogger tested several tea egg recipes and found the best technique involved soaking the lightly boiled cracked eggs in the hot solution as it cools, rather than boiling them twice. The ingredients from Woks of Life is closest to the one I used then.
As for presentation: the photo shows how 67 cheated a little. Only part of the eggs have lovely marbling - they were left as decoration while the other eggs were served halved and dribbled with sauce.
Other bonuses? Tea eggs provide high quality protein for only a few pence and are simple to prepare - bar peeling.
67 reduced salt and provided substitutes for some of the more exotic ingredients. The recipe works best for stale eggs, left out overnight before cooking
Cost: depending on what's in your cupboard, about £2; more if you have to buy more ingredients
Makes: 8-12 marbled eggs (but base sauce can be used twice)
Sauce Base
1 1/2 slices fresh ginger, peeled;
1 star anise (opt but adds a great layer of flavour)
1/3 tsp 5-spice powder if using star anise or 1/2 tsp if not
(OR instead of star anise and 5 spice powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
1 1/2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons or 4 teabags Jasmine tea OR the stronger lapsing souchong (not tested by 67)
1 dried shiitake mushroom (opt)
2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce*
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp sherry (OR Shaoxing Rice Wine - not tested by 67) or white grape juice
5 cups water
8-12 lightly boiled eggs (see method below)
Soy Balsamic Dip
1/2 cup 50-50 mix yoghurt mayo
1 tbsp sauce base
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
generous 1/4 tsp grated or minced garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped spring onions, green only
Method:
Eggs
 |
| Spider: from Chinatowns |
- Bring the eggs to room temperature by leaving them out overnight
- Place eggs in large pan cold water; bring to the boil; allow to bubble 1 min
- Turn off heat but do not remove from heat; cover with lid or plate
- Leave 5 minutes
- Prepare a large bowl of ice and water
- When 5 minutes are up, scoop out eggs with spoon/spider and place in the ice bath; leave till completely cool
- Carefully tap the egg with the back of a knife - you'll need a cool hand here - to allow the sauce to seep into the egg without colouring it entirely.
- See instructions for sauce base
- Refrigerate 3 days
Sauce Base
- Mix sauce ingredients in a med pot
- Bring mix to the boil; reduce heat to low
- Cover; simmer 10min, for last 5 mins, add cracked eggs
- Turn off heat, take off lid
- Cool completely; refrigerate up top 3 days
- If using tea leaves instead of teabags, strain but return the ginger and star anise, if using, to the mix
Balsamic Soy Dip
Mix all ingredients togetherComments:
'I love boiled eggs and these are lovely, perfectly boiled and creamy. I'm not picking up the aromatics from the eggs.' Political Agent
'The sauce goes perfectly with the eggs.' Campaign Manager
'The Asian flavouring in the eggs is very delicate; the longer they are left submerged in the sauce, the better.' Retired writer
*Amoy or Pearl River Bridge
First courses/canapes NavBar: RecipesII (nr bottom of page)...
Please leave a Comment in the box below
Copyright: This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment