A small bowl of tea quail eggs. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
Tea eggs are a typical breakfast food and street snack in China. Usually, pre-boiled, cracked eggs are boiled again with tea leaves. But can we make it more like a banquet delicacy? Yes! The key is to make it smaller. We can use small and cute quail eggs instead. In addition, we can give it an elegant name-- Phoenix Beads with Tea Aroma.
Two tea quail eggs put in a small teapot-shaped plate. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
It's true that the naming of Chinese food and dishes are as complicated as their cuisine. But Phoenix Bead are really, really easy to make. Here is how:
The ingredients needed for tea quail eggs. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
First, prepare some tea water.The exact amount of water depends on how many eggs you are making. You can choose either green tea or black tea, but black tea will make the eggs more appealing in color. A bit of jasmine flower will add more fragrance to the eggs.
A bowl of tea quail eggs. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
When the tea is ready, you can start to boil the quail eggs. Remember to use slow fire after the water bubbles up and continue two or three minutes.
Then put the boiled eggs in cold water and peel them. This is really a time-consuming process as you have to do it carefully to peel the small eggs. It takes about 20 minutes to peel 30 quail eggs.
A small bowl of tea quail eggs. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
As you are peeling the eggs, the tea water becomes cooler, and it's time to put some honey and salt into the tea water. The exact amount of honey and salt depends on your own taste. Also, you can put a spoonful of soy sauce into the tea water if you like.
Finally, soak the peeled quail eggs into the tea water and put them into fridge.
Then what you can do is to wait a few hours to enjoy the cute eggs, but remember the longer the eggs are soaked, the better they taste. So it is suggested that the eggs be eaten after at least eight hours of soaking.
A cup of tea quail eggs. (Xinhua/Zhang Hui)
