Bak Kut Teh - Chinese Herbal Broth with Pork Ribs 肉骨茶

On the way back from my Vietnam trip, I was attracted by the Bak Kut Teh dish in a magazine and since then, I  have been craving it a lot. At first, I thought of cooking this dish from scratch and after searching through the website, I gave up and turn back using the commercial A1 Bak Kut Teh. This is because I could not wait anymore!!!!

Bak Kut Teh or literally 'meat bone tea' is a very famous Chinese Malaysian dish and is a must-try for tourists and also a much-loved dish by the locals. Bak Kut Teh is essentially pork ribs cooked in a rich, savoury and fragrant herbal broth - it can be as simple as just the ribs in the broth/ soup or made more balanced with the addition of dried tofu, mushrooms and some vegetables of your choice. The main dish with the ribs and soup are usually served with Chinese doughnuts (you tiao) and rice. Normally, we will have this dish with Chinese Tea as we believe that the Chinese Tea will 'wash' away all the oil.

Since we are having pot luck party tonight, I am taking this opportunity to prepare Dry Bak Kut Teh for the guest. So, my family will have Bak Kut Teh soup for lunch and dry version for the dinner.

Ingredients:
1.5kg prime ribs (肋排)

1 pork stomach (猪肚), optional

6-8 pieces of Chinese mushroom, soaked until soft and cut half

25g of Yu Zhu (玉竹)(Solomon's Seal Rhizome), optional

1 packet of ready packed Bak Kut Teh herbs, (Brand A1)

1 tsp of peppercorn, crushed
2-3 whole garlics, with skin intact

2 liter of water

5-6 pcs of fried bean curd skin, cut into shorter strips

Seasoning

2 tbsp. of dark soya sauce

2 tbsp. of oyster sauce

4 tbsp. of light soya sauce

pinch of salt

Others

Cooked rice (Add some fried shallots into rice cooker and cook rice as usual)

Chopped red chilli and garlic with light soya sauce as a dip
2-3 deep fried 油条 youtiao aka chinese dough frittersCoriander, garnishing

1. Boil a lot of water to blanch the prime ribs for around 10-15 seconds until the exterior just turns pale. Drain and set aside.

2. For the stomach, you have to clean with lemon and salt both internal and external of the organ. Since the butcher has cleaned for me, it takes less effort for me to clean. Soak with lemon juice and salt for around 10 minutes and clean for at least 2 times or until no more smell. If the smell still persist, continue to clean. Rinse and set aside.

3. Rinse Yu Zhu and crush peppercorn. Set aside.

4. To a large pot, add in 2 liter of water. Once it is boiling, add in Bak Kut Teh packet herbs, YuZhu and peppercorn. Add in dark and light soya sauce. Turn the heat to medium low flame and let it boil for around 5 minutes before adding in the ribs. This is to allow the flavor of the herbs to infuse into the water.

5. Add in garlic, mushroom, ribs and stomach. Bring to boil again before lower to medium low flame. The heat control is very important. It is always important to make sure that the water is bubbling so that the herbs can penetrate into the meat. With this, the meat will taste better.

6. The stomach normally cooks faster than the ribs (normally 20-30 minutes). You may test the stomach readiness by using a chopstick. Once the chopstick can easily penetrate through the stomach's wall, the stomach is ready and can remove from the pot. Cut into 1 cm strips.

7. Depending on your preference, you may start to test the ribs softness from 40 minutes onwards. My family prefer a tender and softer texture, thus I will normally cook for at least 50-60 minutes. Season with oyster sauce and salt. Add in the fried bean curd skin. Off the heat once it is done.

8. Ladle some soup into a smaller small pot to cook beancurd puff. Cook for around 5-10 minutes until they are soft. Do not cook beancurd puff directly into the big pot as the beancurd flavor will overtake the whole Bak Kut Teh flavor.  

9. Serve Bak Kut Teh with chunks of you tiao, chopped chili and cooked rice.