chinese tea eggs, 2 ways(green Tea & Red Velvet Tea)

This isn't some ordinary Chinese Tea Egg recipe, as it uses 2 types of teas that traditionally wouldn't be used in this dish- green tea and red velvet tea!

You literally can use whatever tea you want to make Chinese tea eggs, like I did. Even if it is flavored. In the end, you barely taste the tea that you used, unless it's sweet like red velvet- in that case, you might detect a faint sweet aftertaste. But the spices in the sauce edge out the flavor of the tea. 

This dish was a hit on Thanksgiving among the few people who decided to try it, like my cousin Brian. He does such a better job at being on camera than me, I have to admit. Too bad he lives in New Jersey...:(

I'm the typical INTP(if you believe in that Myers-Briggs stuff)- I have many brilliant ideas in my head but I'm not the greatest at communicating them, at least verbally anyway. Also introverted and emotional. 

Anyways, Brian gave the eggs a 10 out of 10, not that this channel has star ratings like Yelp does(and I don't plan on doing so in the future) for each of its recipes, but still. 

My dad, who if you're a fan of this channel has a traditional palate to put it quite politely, tried the eggs off camera and he spit it out. But I don't put him on camera when it comes to the stuff I make for Easter and Thanksgiving. 

I was kind of disappointed by the end result, to put it quite frankly with you folks- I envisioned green-colored eggs from the green tea and red-colored eggs from the red velvet tea, but ended up with neither. Also, for some reason the green tea eggs tasted drier than the red velvet ones, though to be fair, red velvet tea consists of the following ingredients: 

Cocoa shells, rooibos, hibiscus, natural cream cheese flavor, natural caramel flavor, natural raspberry flavor

And green tea: 

Green tea

So I guess the flavors made those eggs moist. 

A lot of this recipe is waiting for stuff to cool off, along with meticulous work with cracking and peeling eggs, but the end result is pretty to look at in the end! 

​HELPFUL LINKS: 
Shao Shing Hua Tiao Cooking Wine: www.amazon.com/Qian-Chinese-Shaohsing-Rice-Cooking/dp/B01N19E6GF/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1544374254&sr=8-4


Szechuan Peppercorns: www.amazon.com/Yimi-Szechuan-Peppercorns-Sichuan-Christmas/dp/B07BKXTMSM/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1544374703&sr=1-2-spons&th=1
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Green Tea Leaves: www.amazon.com/VAHDAM-Himalayas-POWERFUL-ANTI-OXIDANTS-Kombucha/dp/B00R65SD4C/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1544374348&sr=1-1-spons&
Red Velvet Tea: www.amazon.com/Stash-Herbal-Tea-Velvet-Caffeine/dp/B016796C72/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1544374446&sr=1-2&

​You will need: 

​For the cooking equipment: 

A large saucepot
2 medium bowls
2 spoons
Aluminum foil
2 small bowls

For the eggs: 

A dozen eggs
Enough water to leave 1 inches above the eggs in a saucepot

For the Green Tea Sauce: 

4 cups water
2 tbsp. Shao Shing Hua Tiao Cooking Wine(see HELPFUL LINKS)
3 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. coconut aminos
1 tsp. Szechuan peppercorns(see HELPFUL LINKS)
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of Chinese Five-Spice
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp. Green Tea Leaves(see HELPFUL LINKS)

For the Red Velvet Tea Sauce: 

4 cups water
2 tbsp. Shao Shing Hua Tiao Cooking Wine(see HELPFUL LINKS)
2 tbsp. soy sauce
5 tbsp. coconut aminos
1 tsp. Szechuan peppercorns(see HELPFUL LINKS)
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of ginger
Pinch of Chinese Five-Spice
2 bay leaves
2 Red Velvet Tea teabags(see HELPFUL LINKS)

For the hard boiled eggs: 

1. Fill the saucepot with water and place the eggs in the water. Bring the eggs to a boil for 7 minutes. Then, turn the stove off and carefully place the eggs into a bowl. Let the eggs cool in the fridge for 45 minutes so you can touch them with bare hands. 

For the Green Tea Sauce:

1.Put all ingredients into a large saucepot and mix them together. Bring the sauce to a boil and then let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes. 
2. Then turn the stove off and pour the sauce into a medium bowl. Let the sauce cool at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. 

For the Red Velvet Tea Sauce: 

1. Put the first 11 ingredients into a large saucepot. Cut open the red velvet tea bags and dump the contents into the pot. Mix all the ingredients together. Bring the sauce to a boil and then let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes. 
2. Then turn the stove off and pour the sauce into a medium bowl. Let the sauce cool at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. 

1. Once the eggs are cooled, place each egg onto a spoon. Crack the shell with the back of a second spoon.It's ok if some of the shell peels off.
2. Put 6 cracked eggs into each sauce. Cover each medium bowl with aluminum foil and place them in the fridge to let the eggs marinate in the sauce for at least 24 hours. 
3. After 24 hours, retrieve the eggs from their sauces and place into 2 small bowls. Discard the bay leaves. 
4. Peel off the shells of each egg. They should look patterned by now. Now they're ready to eat!

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