Bak Kut Teh

It tough taking pictures with your cell phone. It makes the food  not so appetizing

The weather outside today is in the 20's. Can you believe it. I hate going out and just want to cuddle up in my couch doing nothing and just sipping a hot bowl of soup. That will be in my dream world but reality is that I have 6 mouth's to feed. So, I looked in the pantry to see what I can whip up and there we go; a packet of Bak Kut Teh which is also called Pork Bone Tea mix which my sister sent last year.  I never used to like this soup as it has some kind of distinct smell, more like chinese medicine. Since my sister took the time to mail this, I thought I would go ahead and make but with chicken instead of pork spareribs which is the original method.

Usually the soup is loaded with pork ribs, dried Shitake mushrooms, tofu puffs, and heaps of garlic.This soup is cooked for couple of hours with the herb and spice mix. Flavoring only with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper. It’s best cooked and served in a clay pot and eaten with plain white rice, yau char kway (Chinese crullers), a dish of stir-fried vegetables. I did not have the clay pot so I just served it in a bowl.  I got the chinese crullers at the frozen section in the Asian Grocery. You can also get the Bak Kut Teh packet at the Asian Grocery. I hope you will have fun making this soup.  I really enjoyed it and definitely going to make this again.


Ingredients

1 pack of pre-packed Bak Kut Teh herbs
1 lb of pork ribs ( I substituted dark meat from chicken)
2 whole garlic bulbs ( leave it with the skin)
A handful of tofu puffs ( I used dried beancurd knots)

Seasoning

2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
A few dashes of white pepper powder
Salt to taste

Chinese Crullers

Condiment, optional

4-5 bird’s eyes chilies
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Indonesian ABC sweet soy sauce

Method

Heat up a medium size pot or claypot of water until it boils. Add in the garlic bulbs, pre-packed Bak Kut Teh herbs, pork ribs,  tofu puffs and boil in low heat for about 1 – 2 hours. Add in the
seasoning and boil for another 5 minutes. Serve hot with hot white rice and chinese crullers.