Ya-Ya's Tea Board

I prepared this dish for a friend’s house warming recently and since they turned out very yummy, I thought they would make a perfect addition to our Cooking with Tea series. It is a very flavourful twist on the old time party favourite, deviled eggs.

Visually, these marbled tea eggs are stunning with brown veins running all over the egg white. A filling of egg yolk and oolong-flavoured mayonnaise adds a nice balancing touch to the slight smokiness of the eggs.

Generally speaking, you can use any strong black tea to soak these eggs in, but using a smoked Lapsang Souchong adds a whole new dimension to this dish, making it very special. To contrast the smokiness, use a floral oolong like Tie Guan Yin or Formosa oolong for the mayonnaise for maximum effect.

Recipe Tea Eggs

12 eggs (brown or white)
150 ml soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 l water
3 tbsp Lapsang Souchong (or any other strong black tea)
optional: star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves

Preparation:

• Put the eggs into a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 10 minutes.
• Remove eggs from pot and cool down quickly under running cold water.
• Gently tap the shells with a spoon to create cracks. Don’t tap too hard, you just want to create small cracks.
• Combine the remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the eggs and simmer for 10-20 minutes. Make sure, the eggs are completely covered – add water if they aren’t.
• Remove the saucepan from heat and let cool to room temperature. Put the saucepan with the eggs in the liquid into the fridge at least 2 hours, but the longer the better.
• Gently remove the shells for serving, revealing the tea stains.

Receipe Oolong Mayonnaise

1 tsp oolong tea
25 ml hot water (~85 degrees
1 egg
1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/4 tsp rice vinegar
50 ml canola oil sea
salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Infuse the tea leaves with the hot water for 3 minutes, then drink the tea and chop the leaves. Set aside.
• Combine egg, ginger, rice vinegar in a bowl or food processor.
• Slowly, add the oil to the mixture, while continuing to mix.
• Beat until all the oil has emulsified, then add the chopped tea leaves and continue to mix for another 30 seconds.
• Add salt & pepper to taste
• The finished mayonnaise looks similar to tartar sauce and can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days.

Finishing Touches

Now, cut the eggs in half and scoop out the solid yolks. Mix the yolks with the mayonnaise and some of the leftover tea-soy sauce liquid. Fill the eggs with the yolk-mayonnaise mix and decorate with a few oolong leaves.

Enjoy!