All done!

Dragons Eggs
(traditionally made for Chinese New Year)

3 T black tea
1 T Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 C soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Gently boil 6 eggs (we used 12) in water for 15 minutes.
Drain, cool and tap egg with a metal spoon until the eggshells are cracked all over.
Cover eggs with water in saucepan, add ingredients and simmer for 3 hours.

Our traditional Easter basket includes peeled eggs. On Easter Sunday no work is to be done unless absolutely necessary, even just peeling eggs. When we made these for Chinese New Year one time, I knew I had to include them in our Easter basket.

The premeasured ingredients, ready and waiting while the eggs cooked for there 15 minutes.







Once they were cooled and cracked, back into the pot they went with the soy sauce and everything else.







A quick stir to combine the spices, tea and sugar into the liquid. Looking pretty gross at this point! LOL







After one hour of simmering, the eggs still look fairly pale.









At two hours, there's still little visible difference. By this time, I had added some extra water to the mixture, as it was starting to get low.





Three hours later, and they're now sitting in some cold water until cool enough to handle.








As they were peeled, I put them back into the water to rinse off any bits of shell or inner skin that might still be sticking. Of the 12 we did, only 1 was "lost" in the peeling, where the white stuck to the shell and tore. Pretty good, actually - I expected to loose at least 2. Youngest promptly enjoyed the "defective" egg.




Finished! Eleven dragons eggs, ready for the basket. Aren't they gorgeous?