Hong Kong Macaroni Soup (餐蛋通粉)
Macaroni Soup with Spam and Fried Egg
What is your comfort food? For me - Steph - the answer is always… Macaroni Soup.
I remember wanting a bowl of macaroni soup with spam and egg at 3 am while working diligently at the office… or wanting the same bowl of comforting soupiness in 5am in the morning at an airport waiting for transfer, feeling tired, cold, and hungry.
It’s my ultimate comfort food, and it’s also a Cha Chaan Teng classic. So today? Let’s show you how to make it.
The Stock Base
Since this is a noodle soup, the most basic thing is, of course, the soup. Each cha chaan teng makes like a different basic stock, but the essence of it is always the same… which’s using some kind of inexpensive ingredients to make a simple basic stock.
It’s similar to the idea of “ertang” in Cantonese cooking, so today we’ll be using some scraps to achieve that end result.
Chicken carcass (or other chicken scraps), ~500g.
Pork bones (or other pork scraps), ~500g.
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ~2 tbsp. Or feel free to skip this if you don't have any on hand.
Ginger, ~2 inch knob.
Scallion, one large sprig. Tied into a knot.
Water, ~3 liters.
Note: If you want to use all chicken or all pork instead of a combination, that's totally fine - use whatever's convenient.
Process:
Soak the 500g each chicken carcass/scraps and pork bones/scraps in cool water for ~1 hour.
Add the meat to cool water, bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, remove the meat and rinse under running water.
Then, add the meat, a two inch knob of smashed ginger, one scallion tied in a knot, and two tablespoons Shaoxing wine to the three liters of cool water. Bring it up to a boil, then down to a simmer. Simmer on low for ~3 hours.
Remove the meat pieces. Scrape off any meat from the chicken or pork - nice lunch material right there.
Macaroni Soup
Dried Macaroni (通心粉), 60g.
Frozen mixed vegetables, ¼ cup.
Spam (午餐肉), 2 pieces.
Fried egg, 1.
Stock, 400mL.
Milk powder (奶粉), ½ tbsp or Campbell's cream of chicken, 1.5 tbsp.
Seasoning:
Salt, ¼ tsp.
Sugar, ¼ tsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp.
MSG (味精), ~1/16 tsp.
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ⅛ tsp.
Process:
Boil 60g dried macaroni in water along with ½ tsp of salt. Boil for ~6 minutes, or until al dente (we'll be continuing to cook this until past al dente). Add a quarter cup of frozen mixed veg, boil for another half minute. Strain.
In a saucepan, mix 400mL of stock with the milk add-in of choice (½ tbsp milk powder or 1.5 tbsp Campell’s cream of chicken). Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Season with quarter teaspoon salt, quarter teaspoon sugar, quarter teaspoon chicken bouillon powder, approximately one-sixteenth teaspoon msg, and one-eighth teaspoon white pepper powder.
Add back the macaroni and vegetables. Cook it all together for about one minute. Transfer to a bowl. Top with spam and egg.