I love ‘lei char fan’, minus the rice. I will get my supply of ‘lei char’ from a stall inside a coffee shop near where I stay and have the ‘lei char’ for lunch.
“Lei Cha Fan” is a cuisine to the Hakka. It is lauded as a health food, with a plethora of beneficial herbs and vegetables used in this green dish. As for the taste, either you love it or you hate it, just like durian. If you have never tasted ‘lei char’, let me explain to you that it tastes like a combo of fresh basil leaves and mint leaves, all blended and cooked into a broth and poured into an assortment of fresh vegetables. It is like a salad dish to the Chinese.
Some of the ingredients in the vegetable condiments include: dry roasted peanuts, hard tau kwa (cut into small pieces), dried shrimps (soaked), cut/diced preserved turnips/chai poh (I normally ask the seller to omit this item from my take-away lei cha as it ain’t too healthy), long beans (diced), leeks (diced), shu-zai-choy (leaves portion, chopped/minced), choy-sum (diced), julienned carrots, kailan (diced), spearmint leaves, toasted sesame seed and boiled chickpeas. Basically, you can add in whatever veggie / peas / beans that tickles your tastebud.
As for the soup, an assortment of fragrant leaves, ranging from basil leaves, to Ku-La-Xin leaves (optional) and Polygonum leaves (optional) are used. And as the moniker suggest, tea leaves are also used. The stall that I go to add in a vegetarian mushroom seasoning to flavor the broth.
So you see, with such a wide array of healthy greens, herbs and tea used to prepare this dish, this is a health-boosting dish and perfect for those on diet or on a low-carb too.
I had ‘lei char’ for lunch yesterday. As the portion is pretty big for my small tummy (RM5 a packet without rice), I kept it in the fridge and had it for breakfast today…. straight from the fridge – chilled, YUMS and thumbs up!
Love this stuff too and have had it only at Ying Ker Lou. Didn’t know available elsewhere. Will have to look for it on my next foodie trip!
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