Hakka Thunder Tea Rice (Hakka Lei Cha Rice) is commonly prepared among the Hakka Chinese people in the olden days. But nowadays, due to its healthy ingredients used, many people starts to love this dish. This is actually rice topped with various types of vegetable/beans/nuts/tofu and served with greenish tea soup made of various herbs, tea leaves, nuts and seeds. To eat it, you will drenched the rice and everything else in that tea soup.
Lei Cha literally translated to pounded tea. Another name for this tea is “咸茶“ or savoury tea as the tea is slightly salty in flavour.
Traditionally, the thick green paste is made by pounding and grinding all the ingredients in a huge mortar and pestle. But today in this modern day, a blender will get the work done in seconds.
This recipe uses basil leaves, mugwort leaves (ai cao ye), mint leaves, coriander leaves (or sawtooth coriander) , peanuts, sesame seeds, tea leaves and salt. I can’t find coriander and mugwort in the nearby supermarket this time, so I omitted that from the recipe and used the rest of the ingredients to prepare the lei cha. It's still taste good enough for me. Will definitely add them when I'm cooking again, and my sawtooth coriander is growing in my little garden.
The green soup is definitely an acquired taste. To me, it taste just like pesto. If you like it, you gonna love it. Haters gonna hate this.
You can always make a big batch of the tea paste and freeze it. Anytime you want to eat, then just thaw it before use. It's more convenient & save time.
Some people will have 5-10 types of vegetables dishes such as french beans, turnip, wing beans, bok choy, mustard, Sawi, spinach, cabbage, long beans, leeks, and toppings - dried shrimp, Chai Poh, roasted peanut, sesame seeds, tofu, etc for the rice. Its very flexible, just add what you like to eat, preferably greens.
Here's my simplified version of the traditional Hakka Lei Cha Rice. I only used 2 kinds of veggies: french beans, sayur Manis (mani Chai). All of the veggies are usually chopped up into little pieces. While for the toppings I used are roasted peanuts, firm tofu (tau kwa), crispy tempeh, preserved radish (chye poh), and sesame seeds. Tempeh is definitely a fusion additions.
For the types of tea leaves to use, I used chinese tea leaves - Alisan High Mountain tea leaves. You can use anything that you can find at home from green tea, tiekuanyin, oolong, etc.
Ingredients :
Cooked white / brown rice enough for 2-3 people
Vegetables / Toppings:
150g French Beans (cut small)
150g Mani Chai - pick the leaves only
100g Firm Tofu - diced
50g Chai Po (sweet preserved radish) - chopped
1 1/2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
3 tbsp Toasted Peanut - skinned
Few slices of Tempeh
Some oil for frying
Tea Soup Ingredients:
1 clove Garlic - roughly chopped
3g Ginger - roughly chopped
1/2 tsp Tea Leaves
40ml Hot Water
25g Thai Basil Leaves (plucked leaves only)
15g Mint Leaves (plucked leaves only)
15g Coriander Leaves /Sawtooth Coriander
1/2 tsp Salt
30g Toasted Peanut (skinned)
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
Hot boiling water - for mixing tea paste before serving
Step by Step preparations:
1. Preparing the tea paste.
Soaked tea leaves in 40ml hot water & set aside for 10 mins to let it expand & soften abit. Meanwhile heat up the wok/pan with 1 tsp oil, saute ginger & garlic till fragrant. Add in basil, mint & coriander leaves. Add salt & stirfry till wilted. Not overcook, otherwise Vege will turn brownish/black. Remove from wok & set aside.
To blend : Blend the peanuts & sesame seeds till fine first, then only add in cooked veges, tea leaves & the water and salt. Blend till it become a thick fine paste. Transfer paste to a small bowl or container if you planning to freeze it.
2. Cut tempeh into thin slices. Lightly pan fry the tempeh with some oil till golden & crispy. Alternatively, you can use airfryer - 190C for 7 mins.
3. Pan-fry the tofu: Heat up about 1-2 tsp of oil in a non-stick pan. Lightly pan fry the tofu cubes until they are golden brown on all sides. Set aside.
4. Cook the vegetables: Heat about 1 tsp of oil in a wok. Add chai po (preserved radish) and saute for 1 mins. Add in french beans and stir fry until cook. Season with salt to your taste. Dish up & set aside.
5. In the same wok, add 1 tsp of oil. Add mani chai and stir fry until the leaves wilted & fully cook about 2-3 mins. Add a bit water so that it won't be too dry. Season with salt to your taste. Dish up & set aside.
6. Prepare the tea mixture: (individual portion) Scoop about 1-1.5 tsp of tea paste into a bowl. Pour about 100ml hot boiling water into the tea paste and then stir and let it sit for 5 mins. Taste test and season with more salt if needed Alternatively, if prepare for more people, you can mix the soup in a larger bowl. If you prefer a thicker soup with more fragrant, you can add in more paste to the water, it's all up to individual preferences.
7. To serve: Scoop steamed rice in a bowl. Arrange all the veggies and toppings on the rice. Just before serving pour the soup over the rice and serve immediately.
Happy Cooking.