Ham macaroni soup

Method

1. Boil the macaroni in plenty of salted water for one minute less than the packet says, the café's way, so it does not go soft in the soup; drain.
2. Clear version: bring two cups (500 ml) of water to the boil with the chicken powder, or one cup of tinned chicken stock and one of water. For the faintly creamy soup of a good café, whisk in two tablespoons of condensed cream of chicken soup until it dissolves: the café base is one part cream of chicken to two parts stock to two parts water.
3. Add the ham (and the peas and corn if using), return to the boil and season with salt, white pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.
4. Tomato version: sweat the onion in the oil, add the tomato and cook three to four minutes until it slumps and gives up its juice, add the ketchup, tomato paste, a cup and a half (375 ml) of water and the sugar, simmer five minutes, then add the ham and bring back to the boil.
5. Macaroni into the bowl first, then ladle the soup and ham over; with two fried eggs and a buttered roll it is the A餐.
6. The family-with-children way: cook the macaroni in the soup itself, which thickens it, and is the taste of many homes.

Take care

• Contains wheat (macaroni), milk (cream of chicken soup) and pork (ham); the cream-of-chicken tin usually declares soy and may declare egg, so check the label. Ham is a cured product.

The story

Ham macaroni soup is the Western half of the 茶餐廳's origin story made visible: macaroni and ham in a chicken soup, served with fried eggs and a buttered roll, was the cheap imitation of a hotel breakfast that the 1950s 冰室 sold to office clerks. It is still the A餐 on most boards, and the faint creaminess of a good café's soup is a secret every Hong Kong home cook eventually learns.

Same counter

Satay beef instant noodlesLuncheon meat and egg noodlesShredded pork and snow-cabbage vermicelli soup

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.