Tea Egg

Tea Egg

I’m not sure why this is called ‘tea egg’, I’d love to call it ‘tea flavored egg’.

This is one of the traditional snack in China. It reminds me of my college life everytime I see it. It was very popular being the before-bedtime-snack back then, I think there was more than 20 tea egg booth around the campus at that time.

Ingredients:

eggs, black tea, seasoning.

Method:

1.Lay eggs in pot, covered with cold water, add some salt into water, bring to boil on medium high heat. Then turn heat off, let eggs sit in pot to keep cooking.

salty water can prevent cracked eggs to spill out when cooking.

2.Meantime, add cold water into another pot, and add seasoning to it, bring to boil on high heat.

For seasoning, I used black tea, cinnamon stick, star anise, zanthoxylum, soybean sauce, salt and sugar. You can add more seasoning as your taste, such as orange peel, bay leaves, etc.

I put the dry seasoning into a tea bag, so they won’t get loose in pot. And I don’t like the strong taste of them, so I took the bag out of pot 10 minutes after I turn off the heat.

3.Crack egg shells with back of a spoon without taking them out. Or you can take them out of water, do it the way you like.

4.Transfer all the cracked eggs into the seasoning pot. Bring to boil again on high heat, then turn heat off. Let eggs sit in pot until it cool off.

Some people like to stick holes on eggs so the flavor can get to the inside of eggs.

5. Take eggs out of pot, peel. Then eggs are ready to serve.

You can serve them hot or cold. They taste good either way.

Picture below shows a darker color egg and a lighter color egg. The lighter color egg was taken out right after turning off the heat, the darker color egg was taken out after soaking in pot for several hours. Of course the darker color egg has a stronger flavor.

Roasted Pecan with Sugar

 

Roasted Pecan with Sugar

 

I think I saw this online back a while ago, but couldn’t remember where I saw it.

Roasted Pecan with SugarIngredients:

pecan, sugar

Method:

1. Heat up skillet, add a little bit cooking oil.

Roasted Pecan with Sugar2. Set heat to medium low, pour pecan into pan.

3. Keep stirring until you can smell pecan and hear some light noise from pecan, sprinkle sugar on pecan, adjust heat to high, and stir quickly.

Add more sugar if needed, but need to be done quick.

4. Transfer to plate when most of sugar melted. Set aside to let pecan cool.

 

Roasted Pecan with Sugar

 

 

Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

 

Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

 

This is one the traditional moon cake for Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cake is not really my favorite, but you have to have it for the festival. So every year, I try to bake some to share with friends.

Ingredients:Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg YolkMoon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

Dough: 100 gram all-purpose flour, 5 gram dry milk, 75 gram homemade syrup, 25 gram cooking oil, 1 gram potassium carbonate solution.

Filling: red bean paste, salted egg yolk

Topping: 1 raw egg yolk, 1 tsp egg white, 1 tsp water, mix well.Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg YolkMoon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

Tool: moon cake mold

Method:

Dough:

1. Mix syrup, cooking oil and potassium carbonate solution, beat until mix well.Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg YolkMoon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

I used homemade syrup which was made just for moon cake, recipe will follow. If you don’t have it, you can use store-bought, but recommend darker color and thick ones.

2. Sift flour, add with dry milk into syrup mixture, mix well until form a smooth dough.

3. Set aside for about 1 hour.

Filling:Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg YolkMoon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

1. Heat up skillet, no oil need, pour red bean paste in.

2. Stir fry red bean paste on medium low heat until you think it’s thick enough to shape.

3. Transfer to a container, let it cool.

Wrapping:Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

1. Decide the size and weight for each portion. My mold is small, so divided the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 15 gram each, red bean paste was 30 gram.

2. Separate dough and red bean paste.

3. Flat red bean paste (or break it), roll it over the egg yolk, form a ball with egg yolk inside.

4. Flat dough, use your fingers and hand to push/squeeze to make the dough cover filling completely.

Dough is really soft and tender, easy to operate.

Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk         Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk        Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk         Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk        Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

5. Put the moon cake ball with a thin flour coating in mold to shape it.

6. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

7. Sprinkle moon cake with water, bake for 5 minutes, then take out, thinly coated with topping, bake for another 15 minutes.

8. After moon cakes are cool, put in a sealed container, set for at least one day then serve.

Fresh baked moon cake has hard shell. Shell with turn tender after settling. Normally takes at least a day, sometime 2-3 days.

 

Moon Cake with Red Bean Paste and Egg Yolk

 

 

Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

 

Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

 

Moon cake is the traditional food for Mid-Autumn Festival. Crystal Moon Cake is a new kind moon cake came to market several years ago. I think young ones like this type of moon cake better.

Ingredients:Crystal Moon Cake with Egg CustardCrystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

Dough: 45 gram sticky rice flour, 35 gram white rice flour, 20 gram wheat starch, 185 gram milk, 50 gram sugar powder, 20 ml cooking oil.

Filling: 2 eggs, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp custard powder, 120 ml milk, 5o gram flour, 40 gram butter.Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

Else: moon cake mold, cooked sticky rice flour.

Method:

Dough:

1. Mix milk, cooking oil and sugar, stir until mix well.

Try not use heavy-taste/smell oil, such as olive oil, I used vegetable oil.

2. Add sticky rice flour, white rice flour and wheat starch into liquid mixture, stir until its smooth.

3. Steam batter for about 10 minutes, stir well, then steam for another 10 minutes.Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

4. Use fork/chopsticks stir the dough really good, then set aside to let it cool.

5. Punch dough with hands until it’s smooth when it’s not hot.

The dough is sticky, I normally wrap it with shrink wrap then punch it.

Filling:

1. Mix egg and sugar, beat well.

2. Add custard powder into egg mixture, stir until smooth.Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

3. Add milk into egg mixture, mix well.

4. Sift flour, then add into egg mixture, stir until smooth.

5. Chop butter into small chunk pieces, add into mixture.

6. Steam mixture for about 1o minutes, stir several times during steaming.

You can use a 2-layer boiling pan.

7. Set filling aside until it’s cool.

Moon Cake:

1. Separate dough and filling into even amount pieces, I normally do 20 gram each, by the mold I use.

2. Roll each piece into a ball.

3. Flat the dough ball, use your finger to push/squeeze it so you can cover the filling ball with it. Then roll it into a bigger ball.

Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard    Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard    Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard    Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

4. Make sure the moon cake ball is lightly coated with cooked sticky rice flour, then put it into mold, press lightly, turn mold over to release moon cake.

You can cook the sticky rice flour yourself, it’s simple: heat up skillet on medium heat, no oil added, constantly stir sticky rice flour until it turns lightly lightly brown. Then set aside to let it cool.

Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard         Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard          Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

 5. Put moon cake in refrigerator for several hours or overnight, then it’s ready to serve.

 

Crystal Moon Cake with Egg Custard

 

Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds

 

Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds

 

I was in a candy mode one day, and I don’t want the just-sweet-kind candy. So I decided to make some candy with nuts. I think they taste a lot better than regular candy.

Ingredients:

2 lbs sugar, 1 lb mixed roasted nuts, 2 tbsp syrup, 1/4 cup sesame seeds.Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds

Method:

1. Prepare a 9×13 baking pan, line with one layer of foil, set aside.

If you want the candy to be thinner, you’ll need a bigger pan.Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds

2. Pour sugar, syrup and 1/4 cup water into a sauce pan, melt sugar on medium high heat, constantly stirring until liquid color turn to brown.

3. Adjust heat to low, then slowly sprinkle nuts and sesame seeds into pan, constantly stirring until all the nuts and sesame seeds are coated with liquid, and you still can see some liquid flow around.

4. Pour the whole thing into the baking pan, covered with foil, then put something heavy on top to Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seedsfirm the candy.

I used a smaller baking pan, with some water inside.

5. Let candy cool, then cut into pieces.

Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds         Brittle with Nuts and Sesame Seeds

 

Cheese Slice with Seasoning

 

 

Cheese Slice

This is a quick and easy snack. It gives plain cheese slice a new look, adds some taste and flavor.

Ingredients:

cheese slices, black pepper, chili powder, white and black sesame seed, whatever seasoning you want to use.

Method:

1. Cut cheese slices into 3-4 little pieces.Cheese Slice

2. Put seasoning on top of the cheese slices.

3. Put sesame seeds on top of the cheese slices.

4. Put a layer of parchment paper on the plate, then put cheese stick on the paper.

5. Microwave for 1-1.5 minutes.

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