Steamed meat 蒸肉饼

The Chinese name of this dish is "zheng rou bing" or steamed meat patty.

Diced meat, mushroom, waterchestnut, pickles. Mix with egg, flour, sauces and sesame oil and steamed under medium fire to a perfectly soft and crunchy texture. This dish is available in some Chinese restaurants that serve traditional southern cuisine.

Rice Dumpling with Meat Filling - Zongzi

Pronounced as "joong" in Hakka, these dumplings could be stuffed with all sorts of meat (commonly chicken or pork), mushrooms, brow beans, mung bean, dried prawn, dried cuttlefish seasoned with soy sauce and five spices.

I bought these at a Taiwanese food fair. Unlike commercially sold dumplings at stores and restaurants, these dumplings are nicely wrapped, hence, the rice is soft and retains its integrity but not soggy. They are generous with the filling.

Hakka hometown Okra

Steamed spicy okra (lady's finger)

This is my uncle's recipe : not a hint of tartness or gluey texture.

The secrets lie in the slicing of the okra lengthwise and the concoction of sauces with dried shrimp and chilli.

Wholesome home fried Pumpkin

A nutritious savoury stir fry dish of steamed pumpkin, diced meat and salty vegetables. Pumpkin seeds are said to be aphrodisiac.

Lei Cha - Pestle Tea 擂茶 also known as thunder tea?

This is a delicious drink made from ground vegetables, nuts and other nutritious ingredients. It is prepared using a pestle and mortar. The action of pounding and grinding is "lei" sounds like thunder, hence, the dish is sometimes known as "thunder tea".

Legend has it that during China's Three Kingdoms era, when General Zhang Fei (張飛) led his troops into the then capital Chengdu and was about to capture it, a plague broke out among his men. An old doctor prescribed a tea brewed from pounded sesame seeds, peanuts, tea leaves and fruit kernels. The ill soldiers recuperated soon after drinking the concoction. This recipe was handed down from generation to generation as a tonic for exhaustion and flu. Since then lei cha has been served in traditional tea ceremonies to welcome guests visiting Hakkas. This dish is is apparently the speciality of Hepo kejia (wandering guest people) from Chaozhou.

To make a savoury soup base, one could add fried anchovy, dried shrimp, pickled radish and long beans. Sometimes cooked rice is added to the soup to make a complete meal. The task of grinding all the ingredients may be daunting to the time scarce.

Nowadays, instant lei cha comes in a convenient sachet replicating the taste of the original traditional drink quite well.

I have found two flavours at the friendly grocery store nearby. There is sweet green tea or savoury (which contains salty dried vegetables) tastes captured in a packet all ready to drink by just adding hot water. If you do not have boiled water handy, simply dissolve the contents in lukewarm or room temperature water and microwave it for 20 to 40 seconds. Stir well. Alternatively, heat up the mixture on the stove gently for a few minutes.

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Yam Abacus Seeds 算盘子

The Hakkas pronounce this dish as "son pun ze". In Mandarin : 算盘子 "suan pan zi".


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Yummy rice dough rolled into small rounds and lightly pressed into shapes like abacus seeds.

The origins probably has to do with the positive psychology of improving one's mathematical ability after savouring this dish.

The morsels could be rolled and boiled a day in advance and stored in the fridge. When ready to serve, heat up in the microwave oven or steam over boiling water.

Meanwhile, fry other ingredients such as shitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, fried shallot, spring onion and garlic. Add the yam balls and seasoning sauces to taste.

Hakka Steamed Rice Cake : pronounced Bun

Cao Pun

A Taiwanese Hakka rice cake

Glutinous rice dough mixed with fragrant "ai cao" herb.

A savoury filling of yam bean, salty radish and dried shrimp.

Soon Pun

My friend's mum used to make this traditional steamed pun to sell. Unlike the typical "soon kueh" of Hokkien extraction, Hakka "soon pun" is made with yam flour, hence it's greyish rather than white color. The filling is the product of your imagination and creativity : shredded yam bean, wood fungus, bamboo shoot, carrot, dried shrimp, peanut, ...

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Homemade Assorted Stuffed vegetables - Yong Tofu - Niang Doufu 酿 豆 腐

Hakka Stuffed Tofu

The story was told that Hakkas who migrated from central China, tried to improvise making jiaozi (meat dumplings) using tofu instead of wheat flour pastry which is a scarce in southern China. Today, niang doufu (yong tofu) has become popularized in Chinese restaurants throughout the world.


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Traditional and authentic yong tofu filling contains minced pork, salty dried fish and fish paste. Starch is added to bind the meat which is whipped into a bouncy consistency. Seasoning is basic, using salt and pepper, and possibly spring onions and cut chilli.

One is not limited to stuffing only tofu products. It is really up to the imagination of the cook and the availability of ingredients to create different delicious morsels.

Niang dofu is usually deep fried so that it could keep longer. They are then cooked in boiling soya bean and anchovy stock or oyster sauce gravy. The dipping sweet and chilli sauces add another layer of flavouring to the dish.

The Origins of Hakka Cuisine

It is not easy to define Hakka cuisine which is as diverse as the Hakka people dispersed over many provinces in central and southern China, various parts of Southeast Asia, India, Africa, Europe and America.

The word Hakkas is a dialect pronounciation of the Mandarin term "kejia" which means "guest" people. According to historical documents, there were five waves of migration of Hakkas to different parts of China. Despite their sojourn, this community has retained some of its unique characteristics as it gathered much knowledge from other provinces.

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