Tenderheart

Hetty Lui McKinnon · Tenderheart

My love for macaroni soup runs deep. It’s an evocative dish, a reminder of my mother’s devotion to cooking hearty breakfasts every morning and the quick lunches we would share when it was just the two of us at home. It is also a dish that captures her time in Hong Kong, where she lived for several years before her passage to Australia was made possible. Macaroni soup is the quintessential breakfast served in Hong Kong’s cha chaan teng (this translates to “tea restaurants”), where eclectic Asian-style Western meals are served. It comes with a variety of toppings, including thick slices of ham, often with a fried egg on top. Some versions feature a tomato-based soup (there’s a recipe in my book To Asia, With Love). My mother’s version is simple: macaroni swimming in a stock made with chicken bouillon cubes, dotted with frozen three-vegetable mix (peas, corn and carrot) and cubes of Spam, topped with Maggi seasoning sauce (of course). I adore the sweet, plump peas in this version, which p