Monday, March 03, 2008

The Making of Special Ho Po Hakka Rice Meal

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present the workings of a Ho Po Hakka traditional rice meal prepared with special tools:- Pestle and mortar with coarse surface made from the hard Guava tree. It is claimed that these are usually homemade then passed down the generations as they are not easily available.

A homemade meal. A tedious homemade meal. A relative’s tedious homemade meal. Phitoy’s relative’s tedious homemade meal. Phitoy’s favourite tedious homemade meal. That’s why he did part of the hard work while I get to ooh, aah, haha and click away. Furthermore, I was a guest. More haha.

Most call it Thunder Tea Rice. Trust me, only the last noun is a fact. Day was bright and sunny. No thunder unless the significant increase in decibel level when other relatives arrived to supervise the preparation counts. Contrary to certain beliefs, NO tea leaf was harmed in this production. But the same cannot be said for sweet potato leaves, mint and some other leaves called ‘khoo-lek-sim’.Now how do your get the ‘luik’ (green in Mandarin language) colour? You ‘loi’ (grind in Hakka dialect) the greens like this. Got it? It’s actually Green/Grind Tea Rice.

Ready, get set, GO!
Arghh.. What big biceps your have ..He works hard for the .. err.. green-ey (-_-)”The mushy greens were then dumped into a big pot of water to boil as soup. Lucky me they decided not to make this a vegetarian meal. Salty dried anchovies were added for flavour. Then other ingredients needed to be chopped, minced then either boiled, fried, roasted or stir fried.I had mine dry with the soup in a separate bowl. Hard-working Phitoy took 3 servings the authentic way. Drowned rice topped with everything in murky green broth:-To me, blek.

Note: A family gathering in Tapah late 2006. Back when I was still taking pictures with my handphone's camera.

18 comments:

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

the best cure for constipation i reckon..

Anonymous said...

I've tried this twice before... liked it the first time, not so the second. I think it depends on who makes it? (Since I had it at two different places.)

Either way, it's definitely an acquired taste... but very healthy, yes? :D

Anonymous said...

ewww i hate that..grandma alwiz force it down my throat

sc said...

only version i had was home made.. looks like this too. has been years since i've tried it, cant even remember the taste now :p

Anonymous said...

lei cha...Not dare to try ler...

wmw said...

Not my cup of tea :o)!

JOjo said...

Yeah to the Hakka!

I just had my share of "ham cha" when i went home last week. Yummu right? But lots of people are not used to its unique taste.

Grandma used to make this when she was still around. Tedious work la.Need to grind with "gai si guo" or guave stem,according to my mum.

But i think it is a traditional dish not to be missed. Yum...Yum~

Tummythoz said...

kennymah, definitely healthy & a superb cure for an inconvenience too, according to NJoe.

sc, had once which was strictly vegetarian near Pudu market. I do pity cows.

jojo, frankly to me no yum yum but run run (together with kampungboycitygal, celine & wmw .. err maybe drag kennymah along).

Simon Seow said...

The broth not green enough but that's loads of vege.

Jason said...

Wah... 2 years ago punya post!
I never try it as I found it smell strange.

HairyBerry said...

eh, your broth looks so clear? mine's usually like green tea paste....hehe..
i have my fix of lui cha once in a while...the taste is ok lar..eat it with yong tau fu..it tastes better...

J2Kfm said...

oh its nice la! though color very funny green .. Jeram is popular for this dish. I'll take some photos of it if i taste this dish again.

i've tagged u, ok? mr. tummy? :)

Unknown said...

omg what an amazeming preparation !
wonder if it tastes hot and warm ?
where can get sommore to eat ah ?

Anonymous said...

Never heard of this before but looking at the hard work, I think I would it a try.

Big Boys Oven said...

oh! I had yet to taste this delicat! good argh? Pls transport me to 2006 and taste your dish please!

Precious Pea said...

I don't mind just mixing the rice with the condiments. But the soup...eee....i can still remember how awful the taste that lingers in my mouth no matter how much water i drown myself with after that.

Tummythoz said...

So many complain not green enough. Think it was my picture as I do remember the colour was quite a turn off. Pardon me while I do this - blek.

rokh said...

this is my favourite hakka dish! it really is an acquired taste and varies from shop to shop, have yet to try home made but there are some that i really like

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