The angry sounding thunder tea rice is a traditional dish for the Hakka dialect group and please be assured that just like the booming thunder in the sky; you don't have to worry for your life so long you don't see the lightning.
In actual fact, it was said to be filled with nutritional benefits along the line of lowering the cholesterol, removing toxic from the body, strengthening the immune system and even help in combating flu and headache etc! Darn, it sounds better than eating salad!
And from the number of media articles pasted at this stall within the gourmet paradise food court (behind MacDonald's at HDB Hub), i guess i would be getting a pretty authentic deal.
Don't be fooled by the second picture; thunder tea rice came as a package like the above. The only meat would come from the deep fried anchovies although most people's focus would be on the bowl of dirty green 'soup'.
Note: Don't drink the soup on its own! In case you haven't realised, it's the "tea" component in the thunder tea rice and the way of eating this Hakka's iconic dish is to pour the soup into the bowl of rice with the greenies, nuts and anchovies, and mix them up!
In my opinion, this was a bowl of healthy goodness filled with chopped vegetables, diced tofu, preserved radish, anchovies and a spoonful of peanuts! You can even choose to have brown rice instead of white rice!
Healthy looking food doesn't necessarily mean tasteless food and you must add in the "tea" to feel the difference. The saltiness of the anchovies, the crunchiness of the preserved radish, the sweetness from the vegetables, the bitter yet minty freshness from the tea and the nuttiness from the, well, peanuts.
It's like having a myriad of differing flavours combining seamlessly into one; an extremely appetising meal! Burp! p.s. i could have drunk up the remainder of the mint-basil tea but since i already had a healthy lunch, i figured i could leave some stomach for the cheng tng, the hougang six miles muah chee and the long queue soon heng rojak from the same food court.
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Location
480, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh, #B1-01,
Gourmet Paradise Food Court,
HDB Hub Toa Payoh,
Singapore 310480
Menu
As above.
Pricing
Thunder Tea Rice - S$5.80