This is a post on making smoked tea eggs at home. Smoked tea eggs are made from soy sauce to give their dark outer color to eggs and then smoke in a pot or wok. It is an old Chinese classic appetizer dish and it is quite easy to make at home. It is quite commonly served in Shanghai restaurants.
Normally, it is made from duck eggs I use ordinary chicken eggs that I get with my weekly delivery for this recipe. It is also quite runny, I have boiled the eggs a bit longer so it is no longer runny. To make the egg with still a runny egg yolk in the middle just boil the eggs for one to two minutes. By doing so it may make the eggs hard to handle it may burst in the handling process. Therefore I tend to boil the eggs longer.
Smoking pot
To make a smoke pot I use smoked wood chips with damp tea leaves bought online in a stainless steel pot. It is put in between two layers of foil so that the wood chips are directly sitting at the base of the pot. I just use it on low heat and covered it with aluminum foil. Otherwise, on high heat, the wood chips will start burning and it is not good. It is possible to use this method to smoke fish and meat.
One doesn’t need a long time to smoke tea eggs about 3-5 minutes is enough.
Smoked tea eggs recipe
About 3-6 chicken or duck eggs
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp tea leaves (soak in water)
some lettuce or spring onions to line the eggs
Aluminum foil
Method
In a pot of water, bring the water to a boil. Boil the eggs for 2 minutes. Then cool it down by soaking the eggs in cold tap water. Peel the eggs off the shell
Mix both soy sauces together. Roll the eggs in them till it goes brown in color.
Using the same pot line the bottom with aluminum foil. Then add the wood chips and soak tea leaves. Add another layer of foil then lay the lettuce or spring onions on top. Then the soaked eggs. Smoke on low heat for 3-5 minutes.
Thank you for reading and dropping by. Do have a look at my other recipes like making hand-pulled noodles and Chinese soup dumplings.
