Author Notes: Last Chinese New Year I made tea eggs and a black bean, smoked tea pork rib dish. The next day I made egg salad and we served canapes with the egg and a sliver of pork. It was divine and I can’t go back to any other kind of egg salad. It would be absurd to make these beautiful eggs just for a salad, so this recipe is for a dozen. Six for enjoying whole and six for making a salad for appetizers. The liquid the eggs steep in can be saved to braise pork ribs that get finished on the grill. Serve the ribs with the eggs, roasted sweet potatoes and sesame kale for a perfect meal. —savorthis
Serves: 12 appetizers
/40c6271f-91d9-444e-b57b-c205a9a5d886--Food52_km_123109_097.jpeg "Tea Egg Salad 2")
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Photo by Karen Mordechai
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Just eggs, mayonnaise, scallions, soy sauce, smoky Lapsang Souchong tea, and a bevy of heady spices: cinnamon, anise, Szechuan peppercorns, and fennel.
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The first step is familiar enough: make hardboiled eggs, but undercook them a bit as they’ll be simmering more later.
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This part is fun: with the back of a spoon, gently tap the eggs til their surfaces are a web of hairline cracks.
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With the eggs cracked but intact, it’s time to add the spices, soy sauce, and sugar.
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Have you ever had Lapsang Souchong tea? It smells like a cross between peaty Scotch and a barbecue joint, but in a really good way!
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The eggs simmer for half an hour, then soak in their liquid for overnight, or as long as you can. (We soaked ours for about six hours.)
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And this is what you’ll get: gorgeous, tea-stained eggs soaked through to the core.
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We couldn’t resist one more beauty shot: it’s almost a shame to peel them!
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The dressing is made from mayonnaise and the eggs’ reduced steeping liquid. (No sense in wasting that flavor!)
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Scallions join the party — be sure to save some of them for garnish, as well.
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After admiring our handsome eggs, we finally peeled and chopped them up. It had to happen!
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Here they are, ready for a twirl in the dressing.
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Serve on rice crackers. Eat. Repeat.
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Tea Egg Salad
Print RecipeIngredients
- 12 eggs
- 3 cups water
- 3 Lapsang souchong tea bags or 3 T loose
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise pods
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
- 1/2 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns (black peppercorns work too)
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- pepper
- rice crackers
Instructions
Put eggs in one layer in pot and cover with water. Bring to simmer, turn off heat, cover and let sit 4 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water. Gently crack all over with the back of a spoon enough to make a spider web of cracks, but not break the egg.
Put eggs back in empty pot, add all ingredients through szechuan peppercorns. Bring to a boil then reduce to the lowest simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool then steep overnight if possible or as long as you can.
Reduce one cup steeping liquid by half. Mix 3 teaspoons with mayo, green onion and black pepper.
Carefully peel eggs. Serve six as is with smoked salt and slice and gently fold remaining six with mayo mixture. Or double mayo, admire whole eggs and mix them all. Serve on rice crackers with cilantro and pepper.
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