Cha Chaan Teng Hong Kong Diner Style Macaroni and Spam Soup- Recipe
ULTRA creamy Cha Chaan Teng / Hong Kong 🇭🇰 style macaroni soup!
⬇️ Jump down to learn the secret ingredient to making this creamy Hong Kong diner staple.
This popular Hong Kong breakfast food gets a little plant-based lift with @omnifoods.global vegan pork-style luncheon meat.
Cha Chaan Teng Hong Kong Style macaroni and ham soup is a traditional Hong Kong breakfast staple across diners (aka Cha Chaan Teng) and fast food spots around the city.
Macaroni noodles is ladled into a warm bowl then topped of with a SUPER creamy and silky chicken broth and garnished with a few slices of lightly pan fried spam.
For this recipe, it's super important to get it’s super creamy and milky texture. Unlike most other recipes that have a clear broth, I like it how they do it in Hong Kong which is super thick and creamy and you can only do this with... wait for it....
➡️ Condensed cream of chicken stock! It's not Cha Chaan Teng Hong Kong Style macaroni and ham soup without it!
This quintessential Hong Kong dish popped up in diners across the Hong Kong in the 1950s to provide localised western dishes to factory workers and day office workers. They were served fast and it was very inexpensive for the area workers.
This dish is also often served with a slice white buttered toast and a side of fried eggs. Mmm
INGREDIENTS
1.25 cups elbow macaroni (I used La Molisana Bronze Die macaroni noodles, they are much smaller than the typical macaroni noodles and swell up to a nice smaller shape)
1/2 tsp salt
Soup Broth:
1 can cream of condensed chicken soup (10 1/2 oz- campbells is fine)
4 cups water
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
Sesame oil - about 1 tsp
1 Maggi tablet of chicken bouillon (or about 2 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon)
1 tsp salt to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 Fried Eggs:
1 egg
1 tbs oil
Spam or faux “Spam”:
1-2 slices of Spam or Omni!Pork plant-based luncheon meat (or real spam)
1 tsp neutral cooking oil (Youyou) or any neutral oil
PREPARATION
1. Boil macaroni pasta with 1 tsp salt. Add about 3 min over package instructions- you want these slightly over cooked like how they do it in China.
Rinse under cool water, drain and set aside.
2. In another pot, add 1 can of cream chicken, spices, and water. Bring to broth to a boil and mix well, use a ladle to press down on the creamed chunks to dissolve cream (or use , then lower to simmer for 10 min. Then add Shaoxing wine, white pepper and sesame oil simmer for 5-10 min until ready to serve.
Bring to a boil, then simmer until carrots are tender. Add pepper to taste, add salt / pepper to taste.
3. To cook ham slices, add a tiny bit of oil to small pan over high heat until hot and glossy, then add ham and fry both of the sides until a little browned and fragrant.
4. To serve ladle a scoop of drained noodles into a bowl and ladle in some soup broth- the broth should cover the noodles (or add some noodles into pot until simmering, and then ladle and serve, careful not to add all the noodles, you want a good amount of broth in there because the noodles will soak up ALOT of that yummy broth).
Garnish bowl with a slice of fried spam (fry spam on both sides for a couple minutes until nicely browned at edges) and optional fried egg and toast.