This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2008) |
Course | Snack |
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Place of origin | China |
Region or state | Zhejiang |
Main ingredients | Egg, five-spice powder, tea |
Tea egg | |||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 茶葉蛋 | ||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 茶叶蛋 | ||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "tea leaf egg" | ||||||||||||||
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Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 茶葉卵 | ||||||||||||||
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Tea egg is a Chinese savory food commonly sold as a snack,in which a boiled egg is cracked slightly and then boiled again in tea,and sauce or spices. It is also known as marble egg because cracks in the egg shell create darkened lines with marble-like patterns. Commonly sold by street vendors or in night markets in most Chinese communities throughout the world, [1] it is also served in Asian restaurants. Although it originated from China and is traditionally associated with Chinese cuisine,other similar recipes and variations have been developed throughout Asia. Tea eggs originated in Zhejiang province as a way to preserve food for a long time but are now found in all provinces.
Fragrant and flavorful tea eggs are a traditional Chinese food. The original recipe uses various spices,soy sauce,and black tea leaves. A commonly used spice for flavoring tea eggs is Chinese five-spice powder,which contains ground cinnamon,star anise,fennel seeds,cloves and Sichuan pepper. Some recipes do not use tea leaves,but they are still called "tea eggs".[ citation needed ] In the traditional method of preparation,eggs are boiled until they reach a hardened,cooked state. The boiled eggs are removed from the water,and the entire shell of each egg is gently cracked all around. The cracking method is the formal feature in this traditional egg recipe. Smaller cracks produce more marbling,visible when the egg is peeled for eating. The extra water from the boiling is allowed to seep out of the eggs on its own. After about ten minutes,the cracked eggs are ready to be put into the prepared spiced-tea liquid and simmered over medium heat. This simmering allows the spiced fluid to seep into the cracks and marinate the eggs inside their shells. After about twenty minutes,the eggs and liquid are transferred to a glass or ceramic container for further steeping in a refrigerator. For best results,the eggs are allowed to steep for at least several hours. The dark color of the spiced tea gives the egg a marbled effect when it is peeled to be eaten.
Another method of making tea eggs is to boil the eggs until fully cooked inside,then remove the hard-boiled eggs from their shells and let them steep in the spiced tea mixture at low heat for a little longer. The eggs and liquid are removed from the heat and transferred to a glass or ceramic container for further steeping. This method requires a shorter steeping time than the traditional method;however,the egg is less visually appealing without the marbled effect from the traditional cracked-shell method of preparation. The eggs can be eaten at any time. The longer they are allowed to steep,the richer the flavor will be. The ideal spiced tea egg has a balance between the egg's natural flavor and that of the spices.
This form of tea egg is very similar to the soy egg.
When the shell is peeled off,the egg has regions of light and dark brown,with a mid-brownish tone along the cracks of the shell. The yolk is yellow all the way through,though overcooked eggs will have a thin,harmless greyish layer while the core is the usual yellow. The flavor depends on the tea (type and strength) and variety of spices used. Five-spice powder adds a savory,slightly salty tone to the egg white,and the tea brings out the yolk's flavor.
In China,tea eggs are a household treat. They are also sold in stores,restaurants,and from street vendors. It is deemed a popular street food that usually costs about 2 yuan.[ citation needed ]
In Taiwan,tea eggs are a fixture of convenience stores. [2] Through 7-Eleven chains alone,an average of 40 million tea eggs are sold per year.[ citation needed ] In recent years,major producers of tea eggs have branched out into fruit and other flavored eggs,such as raspberry,blueberry and salted duck egg.[ citation needed ]
In Indonesia,tea eggs have been adopted into native Indonesian cuisine as telur pindang and the ingredients have also been slightly changed. The telur pindang is hard-boiled eggs boiled with spices,salt and soy sauce. However,instead of black tea,the Indonesian version uses leftover shallot skins,teak leaves, [3] or guava leaves as dark brownish coloring agents. Telur pindang is commonly found in Indonesia,but it is more prevalent in Java and South Sumatra. The telur pindang is often served as part of tumpeng,nasi kuning,or nasi campur. In Yogyakarta,telur pindang is often served with nasi gudeg [4] or just hot steamed rice. [5]
Telur pindang (the Malaysian variation of the tea egg recipe) is said to have its roots in the state of Johor,where the cuisine is most popular,but it can also be found in other parts of the Malay Peninsula. The dish even has sub-variations of the traditional Johorean recipe in many other southern regions. Telur pindang is an occasional cuisine,requiring time and resource-consuming work,and would only be served on special occasions such as weddings. Today,however,there are many commercial telur pindang suppliers nationwide.[ citation needed ]
Malaysian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices found in Malaysia, and reflects the multi-ethnic makeup of its population. The vast majority of Malaysia's population can roughly be divided among three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese and Indians. The remainder consists of the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia, the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia, the Peranakan and Eurasian creole communities, as well as a significant number of foreign workers and expatriates.
Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed in the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 17,508 in the world's largest archipelago, with more than 600 ethnic groups.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dish. Fried rice is a popular component of East Asian, Southeast Asian and certain South Asian cuisines, as well as a staple national dish of Indonesia. As a homemade dish, fried rice is typically made with ingredients left over from other dishes, leading to countless variations. Fried rice first developed during the Sui dynasty in China.
Rijsttafel, a Dutch word that literally translates to "rice table", is an Indonesian elaborate meal adapted by the Dutch following the hidang presentation of nasi padang from the Padang region of West Sumatra. It consists of many side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways. Popular side dishes include egg rolls, sambals, satay, fish, fruit, vegetables, pickles, and nuts. In most areas where it is served, such as the Netherlands, and other areas of strong Dutch influence, it is known under its Dutch name.
Chinese Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Chinese with local Indonesian style. Chinese Indonesians, mostly descendant of Han ethnic Hokkien and Hakka speakers, brought their legacy of Chinese cuisine, and modified some of the dishes with the addition of Indonesian ingredients, such as kecap manis, palm sugar, peanut sauce, chili, santan and local spices to form a hybrid Chinese-Indonesian cuisine. Some of the dishes and cakes share the same style as in Malaysia and Singapore, known as Nyonya cuisine by the Peranakan.
Nasi goreng, is a Southeast Asian rice dish with pieces of meat and vegetables added. It can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, a meal including stir-fried rice in a small amount of cooking oil or margarine, typically spiced with kecap manis, shallot, garlic, ground shrimp paste, tamarind and chilli and accompanied by other ingredients, particularly egg, chicken and prawns. There is also another kind of nasi goreng which is made with ikan asin which is also popular across Indonesia.
Boiled eggs are typically from a chicken, and are cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled or hard-cooked eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may leave the yolk, and sometimes the white, at least partially liquid and raw. Boiled eggs are a popular breakfast food around the world.
Lontong is an Indonesian dish made of compressed rice cake in the form of a cylinder wrapped inside a banana leaf, commonly found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Rice is rolled inside a banana leaf and boiled, then cut into small cakes as a staple food replacement for steamed rice. The texture is similar to that of ketupat, with the difference being that the ketupat container is made from woven janur fronds, while lontong uses banana leaf instead.
Javanese cuisine is the cuisine of Javanese people, a major ethnic group in Indonesia, more precisely the province of Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.
Nasi liwet is an Indonesian dish rice dish cooked in coconut milk, added with chicken broth, salam leaves, lemongrass, and spices, from Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. Thus, the rice has a rich, aromatic, and succulent taste. The uniqueness of nasi liwet is that it applies a traditional Javanese way of cooking rice in coconut milk. There is another popular variant of the dish, which is the style of Nasi Liwet Sunda from West Java. It is a unique Sundanese cuisine with different taste and presentation, from the Sundanese eating tradition called ngeliwet or botram.
Nasi bogana or nasi begana, pronounced as nah-see boh-gâna, is an Indonesian-style rice dish, originally from Tegal, Central Java. It is usually wrapped in banana leaves and served with side dishes.
Semur is an Indonesian meat stew braised in thick brown gravy. It is commonly found in Indonesian cuisine. The main ingredients in the gravy are sweet soy sauce, shallots, onions, garlic, ginger, candlenut, nutmeg, and cloves.
Lontong cap go meh is a Chinese Indonesian take on traditional Indonesian dishes, more precisely Javanese cuisine. It is lontong served with richly-flavoured dishes which include opor ayam chicken in coconut milk, sayur lodeh vegetable soup, hot and spicy liver, hard-boiled pindang egg, koya powder made of soy and dried shrimp or beef floss, pickles, chili paste and prawn cracker. Lontong cap go meh is usually consumed by the Chinese Indonesian community during the Cap go meh celebration.
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Pindang refers to a cooking method in the Indonesian and Malay language of boiling ingredients in brine or acidic solutions. Usually employed to cook fish or egg, the technique is native to Sumatra especially in Palembang, but has spread to Java and Kalimantan. The term also could refer to a specific sour and spicy fish soup which employs seasonings like tamarind. Pindang has food preservation properties, which extends the shelf life of fish products.
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