Ham Macaroni Soup (Hong Kong Style)
This ham macaroni soup (港式火腿通粉) is a re-creation of the ones served at Hong Kong tea cafes (茶餐厅/”cha can teng”), so mine is deliberately lacking in garnishes or vegetables just like the way I remember having it in HK. However, you can use any garnishes (such as spring onions) and vegetables (assorted frozen peas, carrots, corn or any leafy veg) when making this at home.
See Also:
To make up for the plain appearance of my ham macaroni soup, I served this dish with a HK-style milk tea and a creamy scrambled egg, both commonly served at their tea cafes during breakfast. It made me fondly reminisce all the yummy food I ate in Hong Kong, especially now that we can’t travel overseas for a while.
These are the recipes for the scrambled eggs and milk tea if you are interested:
- Creamy Scrambled Eggs – This is the perfect scrambled eggs recipe I used for years for making moist & creamy eggs. They took up 2 and half minutes of cooking action in the pan, great while waiting for the macaroni to cook.
- HK Milk Tea – I used my “Teh C” recipe as the reference, but as a substitute for the tea leaves, I used 2 lipton tea bags (dunked in boiling water for 3 minutes) to make one cup of tea.
INGREDIENTS
Only 3 main ingredients – macaroni, (picnic) ham & a rich tetra-pak chicken stock. You can use instant “Jin Hua” ham soup stock (金華火腿上湯) for authenticity if it is available in your area. A long time ago, our supermarkets carry the jinhua ham stock but I no longer see them (let me know if you see them selling in SG!) So I used chicken stock instead.
Dice or slice the ham to long strips, like how it is usually served in HK.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the macaroni. When done, take them out & divide them into serving bowl(s).
After rinsing the pot, mix chicken stock and water, then bring to a boil …
… cook the ham through a slotted ladle for less than a minute to warm through.
Ladle the ham and hot soup over the macaroni to serve.
Ham Macaroni Soup (Hong Kong Style) Recipe
As this recipe is a recreation of the ham macaroni soup served at Hong Kong tea cafes (茶餐厅), it is deliberately lacking in garnishes or vegetables. You can add your own garnishes (e.g. spring onions) and vegetables (e.g. assorted peas, corn & carrots or any leafy veg) to make it more complete.
This ham macaroni soup can be served with a HK-style milk tea and creamy scrambled eggs, both commonly served with the ham macaroni soup at the HK tea cafes.
Ingredients:
- 2 servings (about 100g or more) dried macaroni
- 2 tsp salt
- 300ml rich (tetra-pak) chicken stock or “jin hua” ham stock
- 250ml water adjust accordingly to saltiness of chicken stock used
- 1 slice picnic ham cubed or sliced to long strips
- tiny pinch of salt to taste; only if needed
Directions:
- Cook the macaroni. Bring a pot of water with 2 tsp salt added to a boil. Add macaroni and cook to preferred doneness, about 7-9 mins. Dish out the macaroni and divide into two serving bowls.
- Make soup and warm up the ham. Discard the macaroni cooking water and rinse the pot. Add chicken stock & water. Bring to a boil. Place the ham in a slotted ladle and warm it up in the bubbling hot soup for 30 seconds. Top the bowl of macaroni with the ham.
- Serve. Adjust the soup to taste by adding more water (if too salty), more stock or a tiny pinch of salt (only if needed). Ladle the hot soup over the bowl of macaroni and serve.