Hakka Thunder Tea Rice @ Tanglin Halt Food Centre

Update: Hakka Thunder Tea Rice has relocated. The new address has been updated at the bottom of this post.

The thunder tea rice stall at Tanglin Halt Food Centre is one of the more popular options that draw a perpetual queue during lunch hour.

When I was there, customers were already crowding in front of the stall waiting for them to open for business at 11am.

As the opening hour neared, the crowd automatically formed a line in a orderly manner. While standing in the queue, I observed that the stall owner is working inside the stall without switching on the lights.

Makes one wonder how does he see in the dark?

Hakka Lei Cha @ Volcano Coffee House, Kelapa Sawit, Kulai, Johor, Malaysia

In my previous post, I mentioned that we were at Kelapa Sawit checking out the wall murals. Before that, however, we had our breakfast at the local coffeeshop. 

There were a couple of very old coffeeshops offering the usual wanton noodle and porridge fare but, we were actually on the prowl for a very special dish associated with this Hakka neighborhood - the Hakka lei cha.

The word "Lei" （擂） refers to the action of grinding the tea but it sounds the same as the word "Thunder" （雷） so this dish is also known as the Thunder Tea.

My Mum is a Hakka so she got to have her bowl of lei cha which is actually a bowl of plain or brown rice topped with different vegetables and a bowl of soup made by grinding different types of herbs and tea leaves together. 

Traditional Hakka Lui Cha @ Boon Lay Market

Hakka Lui Cha (客家擂茶)

Lui Cha (擂茶) is an iconic Hakka rice dish that is topped with chopped leeks, long beans, kale (kai-lan), mani cai, string bean, cabbage, beancurd (tau kwa), pickled radish (cai pok), and served with a bowl of grinded tea made from a selection of herbs such as basil and mint.

Well, there might not be any hard and fast rule stipulating what vegetables to be used in the making of this dish as I believe the Hakka womenfolk simply used whatever vegetables they have on hand or had growing in their backyard at that moment.