Cha Ye Dan (Tea-Boiled Eggs)
I'll definitely put it on beef noodles! Marble eggs with spices and tea leaves
Description
The absolute mandatory topping for Lanzhou Beef Noodles, and a national snack sold at every Chinese convenience store register. Hard-boiled eggs with cracked shells are simmered for hours in tea leaves and spices like star anise, creating a beautiful marble pattern on the egg white.
Restaurants serving Cha Ye Dan (Tea-Boiled Eggs)
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We are researching restaurants that serve this dish.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Tea leaves(Black or Oolong)
- Soy sauce
- Star anise
- Cinnamon
- Rock sugar
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe]
- Hard-boil chicken (or duck) eggs. Gently tap them with the back of a spoon to create fine, spiderweb cracks all over the shell. (NEVER peel them).
- Prepare a simmering broth of water, soy sauce, rock sugar, salt, black tea leaves (like Pu'er), and whole spices (star anise, cinnamon, cloves).
- Submerge the cracked eggs and simmer on extremely low heat for 2-
- hours.
- Turn off the heat and let them steep in the dark liquid overnight. The tea and spices seep through the cracks, permanently tattooing a beautiful marble pattern onto the egg whites.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Star anise and cinnamon aroma、Slight bitterness of tea
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Boil Japanese eggs with Oolong tea and star anise)
Pairing
Lanzhou Beef Noodles / Warm Soy Milk
Trivia
[Trivia] On every Chinese street corner or train platform, there is always a giant rice cooker bubbling with Cha Ye Dan. The scent of the spices wafting through the air is a deeply nostalgic aroma that instantly makes you realize, 'I am in China'.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] Peel the shell yourself and eat it as a snack, or drop it directly into a steaming bowl of 'Lanzhou Beef Noodles', letting the beef bone broth soak into the yolk before breaking it apart.
Allergen
Eggs, Soybeans, Wheat (Soy sauce)