Thunder tea rice, also known as Lei Cha (擂茶), is a traditional Hakka dish from China that was invented around the 3 Kingdoms era. The Hakka community serves Thunder Tea rice when there are special occasions or welcoming guests with grand hospitality etiquette (VIP guests).
I always like to call thunder tea rice "Chinese salad bowl" as it is a rice bowl served full of greens and proteins such as tofus and anchovies. What makes thunder tea rice so unique is the tea soup or "thunder tea", which consists of basil leaves, peanuts, tea leaves and other ingredients. The tea soup ingredients were pounded into a paste and mixed with boiling water.
And so the newly opened hawker centre at One Punggol there is a thunder tea rice stall named Hakka Leipopo 客家擂婆婆 which we would be eating today.
Other than thunder tea rice, they sell fried young tau foo too which is another traditional Hakka delicacy.
The Ordered Dish:
Thunder rice tea Set Meal A (8.8SGD)
I chose brown instead of white rice which is an additional cost of 50 cents. The set consists of a thunder rice bowl, tea soup and 3 pieces of yong tau fu.
On this bowl of thunder tea rice we have peanuts, cabbage, long beans, sayur mani, chye sim and tofu. They use dried shrimps instead of the usual anchovies.
I like to eat my thunder tea rice this way: pour the soup into the bowl, mixed it up and eat it. When I took the first bite, a couple of layers come through my mind. The crunchiness of the vegetables, drenched with the earthy flavour of the tea soup and brown rice, creates a crunchy light and balanced taste combination. One little exception would be the sayur mani is a bit salty.
I chose tofu, tau pok (tofu puffs) and tau kee (beancurd skin) for my yong tau foo.
The paste of the yong tau foo is a mixture of pork and fish meat which the Hakka uses it. This mixture makes the dishes bursting with flavours all over it. There are some crunches on the paste too, which I guess is either water chestnut or preserved radish.
Their chilli sauce paired with the fried items very well. Spicy, tangy and takes away some greasiness as well.
Thoughts
I do know people were hesitant to try thunder rice tea due to the colouring of the soup and scared the overpowering taste of vegetables. However, this stall is a great place to start as their thunder rice tea was very balanced, not too herbaceous and light. The yong tau foo can be better as I feel it is fried a bit too dry.
For those who were on low-carb or keto diets, they do have no rice option and they will replace it with extra vegetables on it.
I would recommend this if you are looking for something to eat at One Punggol Hawker Center
Rating: 4 out of 5 forks
Location:
Address: 1 Punggol Dr., #02-26 One Punggol Hawker Centre, Singapore 828629
Nearest MRT / LRT Station: Punggol MRT / Sam Kee LRT
Operating Hours: 10 am - 8.30 pm (Tuesday, Friday and Sunday)
10 am - 4.30 pm (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday), Closed on Monday
Facebook: 擂婆婆
Instagram: hakkaleipopo
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