Tea Eggs with Five Spices 五香茶葉蛋

There are certain things in life that really train or test your patience. If I were to rate which role would be the toughest test of patience, I would vote that being a parent is number one. I think many parents would be on my side. From taking care of an infant to parenting a teenager, there are endless challenges a parent has to face. It is through these trials that we all mature and grow up.

Another role that build up one's patience level is to be a cook. As it is said, no pain, no gain. To make a good meal, you simply have to put in time and effort. I am not referring to instant TV dinners or instant noodles. I have learned much about patience and perseverance through cooking and baking. Making yeast bread takes hours; aged dough takes days to mature; a successful batch of French macaron took me over ten trials to achieve.

Take these tea eggs as another trial of patience. Making hard boiled eggs does not require a lot of time nor patience. But to make delicious tea eggs, there is no shortcuts. In order for the marinade to infuse into the eggs, they have to sit overnight. Without patience, you will just have hard boiled eggs.

Remember, no shortcuts!!

Happy Easter

this little cute gadget can steam up to 10 eggs at a time with only half a cup of water

人生在世，如果你問我什麼事最須要耐性，不用考慮，我的回答是為人父母。從照顧初生嬰孩至與青少年溝通，真是少一丁點耐性也不行，不知做父母的你有否共鳴呢？

其次對耐性的一大考驗便是在廚房。所謂一分耕耘、一分收獲，你放多少時間及心血去泡製一道菜式，享用的人一定會知道。有很多食物的製造過程跟本是沒有捷徑的，例如做麵包便要有足夠的時間才能令酵母發輝它的功用，做老麵種更要用上幾天的時間，為了要成功做好馬卡龍我更做了十次以上 ! 真是少一點耐性也不行。

以這個簡單的五香茶葉蛋為例，烚雞蛋容易，但要做入味的茶葉蛋便沒有捷徑了。煲好雞蛋，再放入滷水浸，但如果缺乏耐性，未浸過夜讓其入味便進食，那麼味道便大打折扣了。

記住：沒有捷徑啊!

復活節快樂

Ingredients to make ten eggs:

10 eggs 雞蛋
4-5 cups of water 水
3 tbsp tea leaves of your choice 茶葉
1/3 cup soy sauce 生抽
2 tbsp dark soy sauce 老抽
2 star anise 八角
1 cinnamon stick 肉桂
1 tsp sugar 糖
2 tbsp five-spice powder 五香粉

1)  Make hard boiled eggs. Crack the egg shell but do not peel it off.
2)  In a large pot, put water and the rest of the ingredients and let it come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let it boil for 15 minutes.
3)  Add the cracked eggs to the pot. Reduce heat to the lowest and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
4)  After an hour, boil the eggs again and turn off the heat. Repeat this step for 3 more times.
5)  Then let them sit in the pot overnight in room temperature.
6)  Remove the shell and enjoy.

先將蛋煮熟，將蛋殼敲碎。用大鍋將其餘材料煲滾，用中火煮十五分鐘至出味。放蛋入鍋內，用最小火煲十分鐘，熄火。一小時後，開火煮滾後熄火。重復多三次後過夜便可食用。