Chinese Tea Egg - Happy Lunar New Year!

Ingredients:                         Difficulty Rating - Easy, but be careful peeling the shell from the egg

• Hard boiled eggs (as many as you want)
• 1 cup Black tea - brewed
• 1/4 cup Soy sauce (I cheated and used low sodium, I just can't do the full sodium soy sauce, even for a salt lover like me, that is way too much)
• 2 Star Anise - broken
• a pinch of cinnamon (optional)
• Some orange rind, and you can squeeze in some juice too (optional)

The optional ingredients - I saw cinnamon and orange rind in various recipes for Tea Eggs, but my friend Xixi Chen never heard of using either in Tea Eggs. I also saw a teaspoon of 5 Spice Powder.  I'm trying it every way and deciding what I like best.   Also, Xixi's mom's hint is to make sure you put the eggs in cold water after the 1st boil so it is easier to peel the shell from the egg after the second boil.  I had a really hard time peeling the shell from the egg and ruined 2 of the 3 I made - but I'll get better.

Put cold water in a sauce pan with the eggs.  Make sure the eggs are covered by at least 1/2 inch of water.
Cover the sauce pan and bring it to a big, rolling boil.
Take the sauce pan off the heat, leave it covered and let it stand for about 10-12 minutes
The eggs should be hard boiled, but not too hard boiled, unless that's how you like it.
I like the eggs to be hard boiled but with moisture left in the yolk.

Remove the eggs from the sauce pan but don't dump out the water. Save it.
Run the eggs under cold water this is a tip from my friend Xixi Chen.  Her mom said that it helps make the shell break away from the egg easily.

Take the eggs and tap each one gently with the back of a spoon to make a marble-like series of cracks in the shell.  If your cracks don't turn out perfect, that's fine, it will just be a different design.  You can also try rolling the egg around in your hands if you're not getting the look that you want.

Bring the water in the sauce pan back to a boil.  Add the brewed black tea, the soy sauce, the cinnamon, the broken star anise and then add the eggs.

Some people told me to bring them to a low boil or simmer and let them simmer for about 2 hours. Others said to let them in overnight. Since Xixi told me to do the 2nd boil, I did it her way.

When they're done, gently peel the shell and there you have your marbled Tea Egg.  Taste it and smile.