Hear the thunder roar

Da and I had arranged to meet at Amoy food centre for lunch today.

I had heard about a stall at the food centre selling "Thunder Tea Rice" and I was curious to try the food. Quite a number of my colleagues have tried it and they like it very much.

The Thunder Tea Rice comprises a bowl of rice (you have a choice of white rice or brown rice) with a lot of vegetables (such as leek, french beans, pickled radish (chai por), potato shoots, celery and asparagus) cut into small bite-sized pieces, anchovies, peanuts, dried shrimp and toufu. The bowl of rice may not look like a lot but it is very substantial (despite the lack of meat) especially if you were to order the brown rice instead of steamed white rice.

Each bowl of rice is accompanied by a bowl of Thunder Tea Soup. This soup is unusual in that it is greenish in colour. I understand that to make the soup, you would need to grind anchovies, groundnuts, sesame seeds, Chinese tea leaves, mint tea leaves and a little salt until it is very fine. Add hot water and mix it well. Bring the soup to a boil and it is now ready to be served.

If you were to order the set meal, it also comes with:-

(a) one piece of hakka toufu. Hakka toufu is different from other toufu in that the filling is made from pork instead of fish;

(b) basil omelette.

The set meal cost S$5.50.

I wonder why the dish is called "Thunder Tea Rice". I can understand the "tea" in the name of the dish but why "thunder"?

According to the signboard at the stall, eating Thunder Tea Rice has health benefits, such as:-

(a) powerful anti-oxidant that lowers cholesterol (here is a tip that I learned from a Chinese physician: to lower your cholesterol level, boil black fungus, ginger (sliced) and red dates. Drink this daily for about 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks, avoid oily and deep fried food. You will notice that your stool will be oily and black but that is because the toxins are being removed from your body);

(b) anti-stress, cooling and calming effect, aids relaxation, relieve colds;

(c) remove body toxins and fluid wastes, strengthen immune system;

(d) ease digestion (which is good news for people with chronic constipation) and gastric, combat influenza and headache;

(e) expel body winds and gas (although I believe that consuming more ginger would probably have the same effect);

(f) maintain youth and enhance beauty (now, this is good news for women!);

(g) high in protein (I would add a word of caution, though. Too much toufu and peanuts are not good for people who have gout problem. I guess at the end of the day, it is all about eating in moderation).

It is past 7 pm now and I have realised that I have not gotten the hunger pangs that I usually get by evening time and as such, I have not reached for the packet of crackers that I often keep handy in my office. Kudos to Thunder Tea Rice for being substantial enough to last me till dinner-time.

Would I try this dish again? Yes, I would. However, the next time that I order this, I will omit the hakka toufu and the basil omelette. I would probably substitute these with some cut fruits instead.