Hong Kong is a food paradise. When I was working there few years ago, I hardly ever cook. Dim sum with friends was the routine every Sunday. During the working week Cafe restaurants were probably where I went for breakfast, lunch and sometime dinner most of the time. I love HK cafe restaurants or 'cha chaan tian' 茶餐廳, they serve food and drinks all day long from egg and bacon sandwich, french toast, Portugese egg tart to stir fried noodles/rice etc....
One of my favourite cafe breakfast is 'chaan dan tung' 餐蛋通 to wash down with 'yin yan lai cha' 鴛鴦奶茶. Chaan dan tung is macaroni soup with fried spam and fried egg, while yin yan lai cha is a milky tea with coffee. Both sound very strange but really quite tasty and reasonably cheap.
Here is what I do to recreate this at home occasionally for weekend late breakfast.
For the chaan dan tung 餐蛋通, all you need are these ingredients then assemble together
some tasty chicken or pork stock
cooked macaroni
one fried egg per person
2 slices of fried spam or Chinese luncheon meat per person
some blanched Chinese green (like choi sum) or iceburg lettuce
light soy and ground pepper to taste
Heat the stock add cooked macaroni and seasoned to taste then top with fried spam, fried egg and some veg.
For the yin yan milky tea coffee 鴛鴦奶茶
Blew some tea, preferably Lipton, Ceylon red tea or any far east brand English tea. If not use normal Tetley or other English tea.
Blew some light fragrant coffee like Arabica or Columbian, freshly ground is better but can also use instant if you like
Some hot milk or evaporated milk
some sugar (optional)
Mix 50:50 brewed hot tea with coffee add plenty of hot milk or some evaporated milk. Evaporated milk gives a distinctive S E Asian tea/coffee taste. I don't normally add sugar to tea or coffee but yin yan tea coffee is nice with some sugar.
Yin Yang tea coffee is nice too cold with plenty of ice. If you fancy you can add crushed iced, black pearls to make bubble tea 珍珠鴛鴦奶茶, serve in a tall glass with extra wide straws.
One of my favourite cafe breakfast is 'chaan dan tung' 餐蛋通 to wash down with 'yin yan lai cha' 鴛鴦奶茶. Chaan dan tung is macaroni soup with fried spam and fried egg, while yin yan lai cha is a milky tea with coffee. Both sound very strange but really quite tasty and reasonably cheap.
Here is what I do to recreate this at home occasionally for weekend late breakfast.
For the chaan dan tung 餐蛋通, all you need are these ingredients then assemble together
some tasty chicken or pork stock
cooked macaroni
one fried egg per person
2 slices of fried spam or Chinese luncheon meat per person
some blanched Chinese green (like choi sum) or iceburg lettuce
light soy and ground pepper to taste
Heat the stock add cooked macaroni and seasoned to taste then top with fried spam, fried egg and some veg.
For the yin yan milky tea coffee 鴛鴦奶茶
Blew some tea, preferably Lipton, Ceylon red tea or any far east brand English tea. If not use normal Tetley or other English tea.
Blew some light fragrant coffee like Arabica or Columbian, freshly ground is better but can also use instant if you like
Some hot milk or evaporated milk
some sugar (optional)
Mix 50:50 brewed hot tea with coffee add plenty of hot milk or some evaporated milk. Evaporated milk gives a distinctive S E Asian tea/coffee taste. I don't normally add sugar to tea or coffee but yin yan tea coffee is nice with some sugar.
Yin Yang tea coffee is nice too cold with plenty of ice. If you fancy you can add crushed iced, black pearls to make bubble tea 珍珠鴛鴦奶茶, serve in a tall glass with extra wide straws.
This makes me really nostalgic - I used to have this macaroni soup all the time! (followed by a dan tart or a chocolate sponge triangle...). My grandmother used to make tea with condensed milk, I miss it a lot.
ReplyDeleteTo me Hong Kong is a food mecca. What I like most for breakfast over is congee with you jiao wrapped in white crepe like noodle.
ReplyDeleteI agreed HK is the far east food mecca but can be expensive compared to other S E Asian countries.
ReplyDeleteZha Liang (crispy you tiao wrapped with rice sheet) is luvvly. I can kill a plateful now :)..