Spicy Chai Marbled Tea Eggs

These spicy, smoky, salty eggs are beautiful and are very impressive-looking, too. They are a common Chinese street food and look like they are made of carved marble. They are surprisingly easy to make, but are beautiful to accompany an Asian-themed meal, or even to dress up regular picnic or lunchbox fare. They are really simple to make, but do take some advanced planning, because they need to sit overnight (that means YOU, Eileen).

Spicy Chai Marbled Tea Eggs

8 eggs
1 whole star anise
6 whole coriander seeds
2 whole cardamom pods (or 1/2 tsp whole seeds, removed from the pod)
6 whole cloves
3 whole allspice pods
2 whole black peppercorns
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 tsp loose smoky tea leaves (lapsang souchong is best, but Earl Grey would do)

Place the eggs in a medium-to-large sized lidded saucepan and cover with cold water (do not put the lid on). The eggs should have at least an inch of water over them. Bring the water/eggs to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water gets to a full boil, remove pan from the heat and place the lid over the pan. Set aside for 16 minutes.

After 16 minutes, drain the water from the pan and rinse the eggs with cold water until they have cooled slightly. Gently hit the eggs all over with the back of a spoon to crack them evenly all over. Add the eggs back to the saucepan. Crush the whole spices gently with the side of a knife blade, or a mortar and pestle or meat pounding mallet. Add all of the spices, tea and soy sauce to the pan and then add more cold water to cover the eggs. Bring the water/tea/spices/eggs to a gentle simmer over low heat. Simmer gently, covered, for 2 hours.

After two hours, remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. After the pan is cool to the touch, place the whole thing into the refrigerator to cool. Let the eggs sit overnight in the liquid, or at least 8 hours.

After 8 hours, drain the liquid and rinse the eggs. Carefully peel them. They should be uniformly marbled and smell of soy and spices. Serve them with Lapsang Souchong salt or Balsamic Mayonnaise (1/2 cup mayo, 1 tsp. balsamic mayonnaise and 2 Tbsp. of the soy-spice liquid that the eggs were cooked in).

To serve, place the whole eggs on a plate, so that they can be appreciated in their marbly beauty, but then cut each egg into 4 wedges to serve.