Chinese eggs

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 12 eggs
• 2 tbsp, leveled salt
• 4 tbsp soy sauce, Chinese
• 2 pieces of anise (star anise)
• 4 tsp tea leaves, black
• Water

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Total time approx. 12 hours 15 minutes

Boiled eggs with a twist

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 15 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let the eggs cool in the boiling water. Then lightly crack the eggs several times with a teaspoon to create small cracks in the shell. Roughly crush the star anise in a mortar. Place the eggs, star anise, salt, soy sauce, and tea leaves in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for two hours. During cooking, add more water as it evaporates, always adding just enough to cover the eggs. Then let the whole thing stand; the eggs are ready after 12 hours. Peeled eggs give them an interesting, marbled appearance. This makes them very attractive to serve on a buffet. (I once lined up some eggs on a long metal skewer and stuck them into a large piece of cheese; it looked very decorative.) You can just as easily slice the eggs in an egg slicer and use them to top bread, or peel them as usual and enjoy them. In any case, you don’t need to season them any further, as the seasoning from the cooking liquid will have infused well.