Healthy Hakka Lei Cha

Less oil, less salt, less sugar, trans-fat free, organic food....People are seeking more healthy food. The Hakka Lei Cha (客家擂茶; Lui Cha or Lui Teh) is one type of healthy food prepared by Hakka people.

Traditional Lei Cha such as those prepared by He Po (河婆) Hakka people consists of rice, few dishes of vegetables and soup which are usually mixed together. The vegetable dishes may include the following:
(1) chopped long beans, snow peas, sweet peas and chinese leek flower ((蒜花) which are fried together with garlic using little oil
(2) chopped chinese leek (蒜 or chive) fried with chopped bean curd and dried shrimps
(3) fried greens like Gai Lan (芥蓝) or Cai Sim
The soup consists of ingredients such as roasted peanuts, black and white sesame seeds, dried tea leaves, mint leaves, basil leaves which are grounded and cooked in boiling water.

Hakka Lei Cha are available in many Asian Countries (such as Singapore and Malaysia) food stalls. The one shown here is from a hawker centre in KL. It is also served with fried peanuts and the soup is separated from the bowl of mixed rice and vegetables.
In Singapore, one recommended stall selling He Po Lei Cha is the Traditional Hakka Lui Cha located at Boon Lay Place. The stall owner is actually the brother of ex-TCS artiste Huang Pei Ru (黄佩如) who is Chen Shu Cheng's (陈澍城) wife.

Do catch the MediaCorp Channel 8 show Food Hometown (美食寻根) on 20 September at 930pm as Felicia Chin (陈靓瑄) will introduce to us the Lei Cha.