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