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

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).

Read my review on Klang Bak Kut Teh.

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