Bak Kut Teh

Lately I have been quite fond of eating Bak Kut Teh, a herbal soup with pork parts (predominantly ribs). Bak Kut Teh is transliterated to the Hokkien / Eng Choon dialect as “Pork Rib Tea”. All these while, I would buy Bak Kut Teh from a nearby stall and have it for dinner with steaming white rice. That was until the thought of cooking it myself came about when I popped by at a Chinese herbal medicine shop. I wanted to see if I could replicate it at home.

Ready made Bak Kut Teh herb sachet are commonly found in supermarkets and grocery shops and the different brands available can be quite mind-boggling. We bought ours called the Chat Lin Brand, manufactured in Semenyih, Malaysia. So, last Saturday morning, I went to get myself about 700 grammes of pork ribs and loin and the experiment began.

The recipe was simple and easy to follow, though I did add the seasoning to my personal taste. I also added some Goji berries to sweeten the soup. The end result was a satisfying dinner for the family and I am looking forward to cooking the other sachet soon. There are 2 sachets of about 8 grammes each in a packet.

This is the Bak Kut Teh recipe

Ingredients

• 700 grammes pork ribs and loin (ribs chopped into bite pieces, loin kept whole)
• 5 rice bowls of water

Herbs (in sachet weighing 8 grammes as described on the packing)

• Cordyceps 5%
• Giyrrhizae 5%
• Pepper 10%
• Angelica sinensis 30%
• Radix Rehmanmae 10%
• Fructus anisi stellati 10%
• Ramulus cinnamon 10%
• Codonopsis pilosuiae 10%
• Radix astragali 10%

Seasoning

• 10 grammes goji berries (kei chee)
• 2 whole garlic (skin removed)
• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 heaped teaspoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons salt or to taste
• MSG
• White pepper powder to taste

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil and add pork ribs and loin. Allow to boil for 3 minutes. Remove ribs and loin and pour away the water.

Bring to boil the 5 rice bowls of water. Add ribs and loin, herbs and seasoning and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Remove loin and set aside whilst leaving the rest of the ingredients to stew in medium low heat for 30 minutes.

Cut loin into small pieces and put it back into the soup just before serving.

Dish up and serve hot with steaming white or oily rice (rice mixed with fried shallots).

You might also want to add button / shiitake mushrooms and / or fried puffy beancurd (tau pok) into the soup during the cooking process and serve together with yau char kueh (fried cruellers).

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com

Bak Chang Recipe

We’ve finally reached the third installment in the Bak Chang series and today, I will feature our family Bak Chang recipe. Now, this recipe is definitely not for beginners as a considerable amount of skill and estimation on ingredients are required. You see, with home-cooked food, we don’t measure ingredients using measuring spoons or cups. Rather, it’s a lot to do with estimation or what the locals call “agak-agak” (“estimate”). So, this recipe is a guide for you so that you roughly know what ingredients go into the Bak Chang and how is is prepared and cooked.

This Bak Chang recipe is quite close to the Nyonya Bak Chang especially in the taste department. It is probably world’s apart from Cantonese Bak Chang which tends to be a bit on the saltish side and contains bigger chunks of ingredients. Those who are fond of eating saltish Bak Changs might find this not suited to their palate because our Bak Chang recipe is sweet and saltish with a slight emphasis on the former. Nevertheless, for those who are craving for a slightly sweetish Bak Chang, this might be the recipe you are looking for. In this recipe, we are looking at making approximately 25 Bak Changs depending on how you wrap the Bak Chang.

This is our family recipe for Bak Chang

Ingredients

• 1 kg glutinous rice (washed, pre-soaked for 4 to 6 hours and drained)
• 1 kg pork (lean pork from the fore thigh, cut into small cubes not more than 1cm sides)
• 300 grammes dried winter melon (cut into small cubes not more than 1cm sides)
• 250 grammes dried prawns (rinsed and pounded)
• 15 pieces chinese dried mushroom (pre-soaked till soft and cut into cubes not more than 1 cm sides)
• 8 shallots (sliced thinly)
• 1 bulb garlic (chopped)
• 60 pieces Bak Chang bamboo leaves (washed thoroughly and boiled for 15 minutes to soften)
• 5 tablespoons cooking oil
• 10 pieces pandan leaves (knotted)
• Reed or Banana stem reed to tie

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons dark soya sauce
• 4 tablespoons coriander powder (ketumbar)
• Liberal dashes of white pepper powder

Method
Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in wok and fry 1/2 the garlic and shallots till aromatic. Add glutinous rice, 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce, 1 tablespoon of ketumbar and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper powder. Stir well. Remove and leave to cool.

Heat up 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in wok and fry the other half of garlic and shallots till aromatic. Add dried prawns and stir till aromatic. Next, add mushrooms and pork. Stir well followed by adding of winter melon and seasoning to taste. Stir till even and pork is cooked. Set aside to cool.

Wrap the Bak Changs. Bring to boil a large pot of water and throw in the pandan leaves. Boil Bak Chang for 3 hours completely submerged and covered. For best results, use a charcoal stove. For quick cooking, use a pressure cooker and boil for approximately 45 minutes on pressure and 15 minutes standing.

source:http://www.deliciousasianfood.com