Dry bah kut teh 干肉骨茶 (Klang style)

 

I wasn't excited when I first tried the dry bah kut teh because it was very dry. It was when my friend, the owner of the famous under the bridge Bah Kut Teh shop in Klang taught me to use pork belly instead of ribs that I truly loved it. I like the softness of the skin and meat and the oomph from the chilis. If you don’t want to eat the dry version on the same day as the soup version, you can keep the pork belly and some soup to cook another day. By the way, you can add some small pork ribs to the dry bah kut teh if you like.

Thanks, Ah Boy for sharing your recipe with me. 

Ingredients

1 or 2 strips of pork belly depending on how much you want to cook.

1 or 2 dried cuttlefish (squids)
Okra
Black garlic (minced)
Dried chili

Blanch the pork belly to remove the scum.

Put the clean pork into the bah kut teh soup.
Cover and cook until it is almost tender.

In the meantime, cut the cuttlefish into strips.

Soak the cuttlefish until softened.

Drain and let it dry.

Heat some oil in a wok and fry the cuttlefish until golden brown.

Remove and set aside.

Cut the dried chilis to remove the seeds.
Soak the chilis for about 5 minutes to slightly soften it.

Remove the top and tail of the okra

Cut the okra into bite-size pieces.

Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Remove the pork belly and let it cool down.

Slice the pork belly when it has cooled down.

Set aside.

In a bowl put the following:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp bah kut teh soup
½ tsp sugar
Pepper 

Heat some oil in the wok and fry the garlic.

Add the dried chili.

Add the cuttlefish and prepared sauce.
Mix thoroughly.

Add the okra.

When the okra is softened, add the pork belly and mix thoroughly.
Adjust the seasoning and add a little more soup if it is too dry.

Transfer to a claypot and simmer on low heat for 10 mins.

Serve with white rice.

Homemade nyonya chili sauce (辣椒醬)

 

This homemade nyonya chilli garlic sauce is easy to prepare and is used especially for serving with Hainanese chicken rice or as a dipping sauce for meat, fish and rice and noodles. This version is spicy, sourish and slightly sweet.   

Ingredients 

1 kilo red chillies
200 gm garlic

4 tbsp sugar or more depending on your taste.
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (this helps to keep the sauce for up to 6 months)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp salt

Wash, remove the stems and cut the chillies lengthwise.

Remove the seeds and white piths of chillies to lessen the spiciness.

Cut the chillies and garlic into thumb-sized pieces.

Put some water into the bottom of the blender.
Add the chillies and garlic.

Blend until it is a smooth paste.

Transfer the paste to a pot.
Add the sugar, lemon juice and tomato ketchup.

Cook over a slow fire and stir constantly so that the liquid can dry out.

Once the liquid has dried up, turn off the fire and set aside to cool down.

 Pour into clean and dry glass jars and store in the fridge.
Always use a clean dry spoon to scoop the sauce.

Klang Bah Kut Teh (巴生肉骨茶)

 

Literally translated bak kut teh means 'meat bone tea'. It is a soup cooked with pork meat and bones plus a variety of herbs that are supposed to provide nutrients for a healthy constitution. This Hokkien dish originated in Klang, called bak kut soup, but Mr. Lee Boon Teh made it popular by serving tea with the dish. The tea helps to neutralize the fat so that it reduces the feeling of bloatedness. His regular customers started calling it bak kut teh. He started selling bak kut teh from a pushcart under the bridge. After the bridge was bombed by the Japanese, he moved his bak kut stall a few streets down and, eventually, into a shophouse. In the sixties, his son moved the business back 'home' under the bridge, to the corner shop where it still occupies. Seng Huat Bak Kut Teh is also popularly known amongst Klang folks as "Under the Klang Bridge Bak Kut Teh" (盛发桥底肉骨茶), because of its close proximity to the said bridge. Apart from the tea, it should be served with yew char kueh and cut red chillies. 

I was privileged to learn the recipe from the present owner.

 Different serving suggestions

This is the original version

This is the claypot version whereby you can add lettuce, mushrooms, quail eggs, and fried tofu skin

This is the dry version. I will post the recipe next time

Most importantly, this is the spice pack from the restaurant. Each pack contains 1 sachet of the soup spices.

  

Ingredients

1 packet of the spices
2 cloves of burnt garlic 

Dark caramelised soy sauce
Light soy sauce

(1.5 to 2 kg pork)
The meaty part of a pork leg.
The fat and skin provide collagen which gives the soup the oomph taste

Pork ribs because the bones will add taste to the soup

2 chicken feet which will help thicken the soup and also provide collagen

Okay!! Let’s get cooking

Firstly, prepare the soup base

Put the garlic into a spice bag to keep the soup clean

Put 2 liters of water into the cooking pot and bring to boil.
Add 1 tbsp dark soya sauce 

 Add 2 tbsp light soya sauce.

Put the garlic and 1 bak kut teh spices sachets into the stock
Cover and simmer 

Remove any excess fat and skin from the meat so that the soup will not be too oily

Wash with salt and rinse until the water is clear

Blanch the pork and chicken feet in boiling water to remove the scum

Rinse the meat to remove any scum that is on them

Put the meat and chicken feet into the soup
Cover and simmer for 1 hour

It is better to add the ribs later otherwise they will be overcooked
Blanch and rinse the pork ribs 

Add to the soup and simmer until the meat is tender

Turn off the fire once the meat is tender

To prepare the claypot version

Wash and cut 6 iceberg lettuce leaves (生菜)
Place into the claypot

Cut off the roots of 1 pack of enoki mushrooms (金针菇)
Place them on top of the lettuce

Put 10 quail eggs on top
Add the fried tofu skins if you want

Transfer the meat and ribs on top of the vegetables

Spoon and sieve the soup into the claypot to cover the meat and vegetables as my sous chef Felicia is doing.
Turn on the fire and simmer until the soup is boiling

The bah kut teh is served