Thunder Tea Rice (Lei Cha)
Thunder tea rice is another one of my favourites ever since I discovered it 3 years ago (better late than never!). This is by no means a traditional Thunder Tea Rice recipe, but I’ve used the vegetables and herbs (from my Grobrix) I have available at home for this (I can assure you it’s delish!)—that’s the beauty of cooking!
I was a little intimidated at first by the number of ingredients in the prep, but it actually turned out pretty manageable! Just use the same pan to fry up the veggies and, of course, not forgetting my handy air-fryer which saves me a ton of time and stress-free clean-up.
The tea paste may not look the sexiest, but don’t underestimate it! A good, fragrant soup with fresh ingredients packs a punch. You can also meal prep this step by freezing the blended tea paste. I’d suggest to portion them out before doing so (e.g. pouring it in an ice cube tray first, then popping them into a container). This means you can easily pick out the portions you need to defrost, without wasting any ingredients.
For my rendition of Thunder Tea Rice, I’ve used onion in the chye poh mixture. Onion is not traditionally used in Thunder Tea Rice, but I added it in as I enjoy the sweetness that comes from it. You may omit it if you like and simply dry fry the chye poh on it’s own - no oil is needed here.
THE RECIPE
SERVES 4
Ingredients
Tea paste
40g roasted almonds
30g roasted peanuts
4g (1 tbsp) sesame seeds
20g mint leaves
20g coriander leaves
30g Thai basil leaves
5g tea leaves (I used jade oolong, but you can use any Chinese tea)
½ tsp salt (omit if peanuts are salted)
Vegetables
250g long beans, sliced to 0.5” pieces
300g cabbage, sliced thinly
150g leafy green (e.g. kailan, bayam spinach), roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tbsp cooking oil
Salt
Toppings
200g tau kwa (firm tofu)* cut into cubes
4 slabs of tempeh (160g), cut into cubes
50g chye poh (preserved turnip), rinsed (to get rid of saltiness) and chopped finely or blitzed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
½ tbsp oil
Garnish
4x ½ tbsp ikan bilis (dried anchovies)
4x ½ tbsp chopped peanuts
4x ½ tsp sesame seeds
Cooked rice for 4 pax
Directions
Vegetables:
Fry a third of the garlic in ½ tbsp of oil until softened and fragrant.
Add in the long beans and stir fry until they’re softened. Season with salt to your liking and set aside. Add a touch of water if it gets too dry.
Repeat steps 1-2 for the rest of the vegetables.
Chye poh:
Fry the onion in ¼ tbsp oil until fragrant, and add the chye poh and stir fry for another 3-4 mins.
Tau kwa and tempeh:
Coat in ¼ tbsp oil, sprinkle some salt, and fry in the air fryer until golden brown on all sides (~20min at 160°C). Alternatively, you may fry them in a pan.
Tea paste:
Place all the ingredients for the tea paste into a blender along with some water to cover a third way.
Blend until smooth.
Assembly:
Once all the ingredients are ready, plate the rice and add the cooked vegetables, tau kwa, chye poh, fried ikan bilis, peanuts and sesame seeds.
Right before serving, pour 3 tbsp of hot boiling water over 2-3 tbsp of the paste. Stir well to mix and serve it with the rice.
Notes
For the tau kwa*: as they tend to contain quite a bit of liquid in them, 15 minutes before you start cooking, place it on a plate and wrap in a paper towel. Place another plate on top and use 2 cans (or any other weighted item) that would apply some pressure to help squeeze the water out.
Nutrition
Per serving
Calories: 596kcal
Carbohydrates: 45g
Protein: 34g
Fat: 28g
Sugar: 7.2g
Sodium: 688.88mg
Fibre: 14g