If there is one drink that represents Hong Kong, it is Hong Kong–style milk tea. there is no sugar added to this fragrant milk tea, only evaporated milk. It is also called ‘silk stocking milk tea’ because the tea is filtered and pulled with a sackcloth bag that resembles a silk stocking. The tea is first cooked and pulled back and forth a few times, then cooked and pulled again. It is believed that the tea pulling helps to get rid of the bitter and grassy taste and to achieve a smoother texture.
Here, I use whole tea leaves and tea bags and a plant-based evaporated coconut milk. If you can’t find any plant-based evaporated milk products, you can also cook your favourite plant-based milk over a low heat, and let it simmer for a few minutes until half of the milk has evaporated. The evaporation enhances the taste and smoothness of the milk.
Recipe extracted from Vegan Chinese Food by Yang Liu (Hardie Grant, £24), Photography © Katharina Pinczolits
Next, why not try more drink recipes from the House & Garden recipe archive?
