History of Hakka Lei Cha Rice 🌩 Thunder Tea Rice has Nothing to do with Thunder or Lightning 客家擂茶

Lei Cha is an iconic dish of the Hakka people. Who are the Hakka and how did this dish come about?

The Hakka people were originally from the Central Plain of China in provinces of the Yellow River valley (centred in Henan). They migrated south (and around the world) in five great migrations. (Image courtesy of Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures.)

Source: CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The first great migration took place over 1,700 years ago in 307 - 313. China was in disarray during the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties era from 220 to 589. Fighting among themselves, China was also invaded by nomadic tribes from the north. 

When 西晉 Western Jin dynasty's capital Luoyang City fell to the Xiongnu tribes, the Hakka people from Henan province fled east and south. On this first great migration, they stopped at Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and the city of Nanjing. (Image of Xiongnu courtesy of flickr.)

The second great migration took place during the chaos of the last years of the Tang dynasty (875 - 884). From Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan, the Hakka people moved south to Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

The third great migration took during the fall of Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) to the Mongols. More Hakka people fled south to Guangdong and Fujian provinces for refuge.

The fourth great migration happened during the Qing dynasty. As Sichuan province was depopulated due to wars (in which Manchurians defeated the Ming dynasty), Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi (1661 - 1722) ordered Hakka people in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian to move to Sichuan. About one million Hakka people moved to Sichuan during the fourth great migration.

The fifth great migration followed the collapse of the Taping Revolution (1850 - 1864). The leaders and many of the rebels of the revolution were Hakka people. With the defeat of the Taping forces, the Qing forces (recruiting locals) began the purge of Hakka people. This led to Hakka people taking to the seas, escaping to Taiwan, British Malaya, Dutch Indonesia, even to Africa, Australia, North and South America.

Throughout these great migrations, the Hakka people retained their distinct language and culture. They were shunted by locals who referred to them as 客家 Hakka or guest people.

In moving into Guangdong and Fujian, the Hakka people were seen as encroaching on the lands and lives of the Yue 粵 and Min 閩 people who originally lived in these southern provinces. The Hakka people were thus denied access to the sea or river deltas. Hence, fresh seafood and aquatic life do not feature much in Hakka cuisine.

The Hakka people retreated to the safety of the hills, tilled the land around it and built villages that were like fortresses known as tulou 土楼 (earth building). The villagers did not venture far from the safety of their tulou. Hence, Hakka cuisine feature mainly vegetables, herbs, pork and poultry sans fish, crustaceans and shellfish, etc. (Tulou image courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Hakka cuisine include abacus seed, beef balls, salt baked chicken, deep fried fermented tofu marinated pork, lei cha, yong tau foo, etc.

Lei Cha is an iconic, quintessentially Hakka dish - I mean it is well loved by Hakka people and there is no other dish like it in form or flavour.

According to legend, when Shu Han 蜀漢 kingdom General Zhang Fei 張飛 was about to launch his attack on Chengdu during the Three Kingdoms era (220 - 280 AD), his soldiers fell ill to a plague epidemic. A traditional physician prescribed rice with a combination of herbs i.e. a form of lei cha rice to feed the troops. It cured Zhang Fei's soldiers and he went on to conquer Chengdu. (Image of Zhang Fei courtesy of Wikipedia.)

This legend of Zhang Fei places the invention of lei cha rice at around 1,800 years ago. Since then, lei cha has been part of Hakka cuisine, traveling the world including to Singapore during the fifth wave of Hakka migration in the 1860s.

The lei cha dish consists of a bowl of boiled rice blanketed with stir fried vegetables like spinach, cabbage, long bean, fried tofu (tau kwa), preserved radish, toasted peanut, etc. 

One of the characteristics of Hakka people is their adaptability to local conditions through 1,700 years of migration. So, we see flexibility in Hakka cuisine where ingredients are substituted or added according to what is available locally 就地取材.

As such, lei cha is a flexible dish where you can adjust the recipe according to what is available, wherever you are. So other vegetables like kale, lettuce, leek, sayur kacang botol (wing bean), kai lan, choy sum, Chinese mustard leaves, etc are also used. That's why lei cha survives and travels well through many generations.

The vegetables are stir fried in oil with dried shrimp and / or garlic for added savouriness and aroma. Lard is traditionally used but most people use vegetable oil today.

Then, there's the signature green tea, the soul of lei cha made by grinding a blend of vegetables and herbs such as basil leaves, cilantro (coriander), leek, scallion, sayur manis, parsley, 艾草 mugwort, 苦力心 Sabah snake grass, ginger, mint, green tea leaves, sesame seed, toasted peanut, peppercorn, etc. Again, the recipe is flexible in allowing vegetables and herbs that are locally available.

For everyday meals at home or those sold at food stalls, the ingredients are usually simplified but for festive meals such as during Chinese New Year, the lei cha tea may be made with as many as 15 different vegetables and herbs.

Traditionally, the vegetables and herbs are ground by hand in a large grinding bowl using a camphor or guava tree branch. Today, most people just use an electric blender. The resulting paste is poured over with hot water to make the green tea.

Lei cha is a harmonious complex blend of many savoury and sweet flavours. It is also an interesting mix of soft, tender and crunchy textures. I love it. 

Lei cha is a communal dish in Hakka communities as it is served at gatherings of family and friends. As making lei cha involves a lot of tedious preparation, the work is distributed as a communal activity. Family, neighbours and friends gather the myriad required ingredients then clean, cut, cook, serve and enjoy it together. The heavy work of hand grinding the vegetable is shared. Hence, lei cha has a bonding role in Hakka communities from assembling the ingredients to preparation to eating together. 

There are many clans of Hakka people and each clan have their own food icons. This rice dish is the signature of He Po Hakka 河婆 (from Jiexi county in east Guangdong) and Hai Lu Feng Hakka 海陆丰 (from southeast Guangdong). He Po Hakka call this dish lei cha as it is commonly known. Hai Lu Feng Hakka call this same dish Hum Cha which literally means "savoury tea".

This dish is also commonly known as "Thunder Tea Rice" even though it has nothing to do with thunder or lightning. The He Po Hakka word Lei 擂 which means grind sounds like the Mandarin word 雷 which means "thunder". Hence, "Thunder Tea". It is quite common to see such misnaming in Singapore in lei cha stall and restaurant signage. 

(Some said that the name "thunder tea 🌩 " came from the "thunderous" pounding sound from making lei cha tea but traditionally the leaves and herbs are ground with a branch in a grinding bowl in a circular motion, not by pounding.) 

One humble hawker dish, nearly 2,000 years of history. This dish is a historical, cultural artefact. That is why we must preserve our hawker culture.

Lei cha stalls in Johor 👈 click

Lei cha stalls in Singapore 👈 click

       

                     

             

             

               

               

             

           

           

           

                         

           

             

                View this post on Instagram              

           

           

           

             

               

               

               

             

             

               

               

             

             

               

               

               

             

           

           

             

             

         

            A post shared by Tony Boey Johor Kaki (@johorkaki)          

       

     

            

Written by Tony Boey on 31 Oct 2021

Lei cha in a Malaysian village