bak kuh teh (herb soup with pork ribs)

Bak kuh teh is a popular dish in Singapore/Malaysia. It's comfort food for many people because of warm soup and meaty pork ribs. There are different kinds of bak kuh teh - some are more pepper-ish, some got more herb-y taste. It usually comes in a convenient packet, so it's very easy to prepare. You live outside of Malaysia/Singapore? No worries. You can get the packet for $3.40 at 100Plus Asian Market. :) 

Ingredients:

Pork ribs - 1 lbs
Garlic - 12 cloves (with skin)
water - 1.5L 

Bak kuh teh packet - 1
Bok choy - 4 pieces 

[Pork ribs marinade]
Dark soy sauce - 3 TBS
Salt & Pepper - 1 tsp each 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prep:

1. Even though it's not necessary, I personally like to marinade meat for soup. So combine the meat with the pork ribs marinade. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes. 
2. Separate garlic into individual cloves, but skin intact.
3. Cut the stem off bok choy, separate and washed. 

Marinaded pork ribs

I used two packets (double the recipe)

Cook: 

1. In a large pot,  bring 1.5L water to boil. Add in bak kuh teh packet and garlic and boil for couple of minutes.
2. Add in marinated meat. Let it cook for 30-35 minutes. 
3. Taste the soup after 35 minutes and adjust the taste. Leave the packet inside the pot (the longer you put in, the soup will be more herb-y taste). 
4. Couple of minutes before serving, add in bok choy veggies in the pot. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes.

Serve: 

1. Serve in a bowl, and eat with rice. Drink up the awesome soup!
2. It's usually eaten with yu tiao (Chinese style donut). You can eat with noodles, too.

TIPS

• If you don't like the taste of the soup, try another brand. Different brand have different taste. When we made ours, we combined the two brands and it turned out great. 
• You can also put other ingredients like shiitake mushrooms. 

bakkwa (singaporean/malaysian bbq pork jerky)

My husband can cook well, and so can my brother-in-law! He made us one of my favorite foods (probably in my top 5), bakkwa. It's Singaporean/Malaysian pork jerky. It was sooooo good! Thank you, Keith! 

Ingredients: 

 Ground pork - 1 lb

[Marinade/seasoning]

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
White sugar - 1/2 cup
Soy sauce - 1 TBS
Oyster sauce - 1 TBS
Five spice powder - 1 tsp
White pepper - dash
Sesame oil - 1 TBS
Dark soy sauce -  1 TBS
(Paprika/Cayenne pepper - 1 TBS [optional for spicy kick])

[Glaze]

Honey - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 TBS

 

(Sorry, not very clear picture)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prep:

1. Mix the marinade in a bowl. Mix until all ingredients are integrated.
2. In a larger bowl, mix the marinade and ground pork. Using your hands or Kitchenaid, mix it well. 
3. On a baking sheet, put parchment paper or silicon pad. Spread the meat mixture on the baking sheet until about 0.5mm in thickness (thinner the better). 
4. On a separate bowl, mix honey and water for the glaze. Set it aside.

Mix the marinade together

Mix with the meat

Spread over baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon pad

Cook:

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Bake the thin-layered meat mixture in the oven for 45 minutes. Check after 30 minutes - make sure it's not burnt. 
3. Take out the meat from the oven, let it cool completely. 
4. Peel off from parchment paper or silicon pad. Cut in desired shapes & sizes. 
5. Heat the grill (or use BBQ charcoal grill) or broiler. Fry cut-up individual bah kwa and brush on the glaze as you grill (both sides). If it's cooking too fast, lower the heat or put on a different level (further away from the heat). 

Bakkwa out of the oven after 45 minutes

Cut in desired shapes

Honey/water glaze mix

My awesome brother-in-law brushing the glaze on bakkwa.

Serve:

1. Let it cool a bit so it'll harden a bit. 
2. Eat it plain or with a toasted bread. 

TIPS 

• It's so good, it'll be gone in a second! So make sure you keep some for yourself, too. 
• You can use other ground meats (beef, chicken, turkey, etc) 

creamy penne with chicken & shrimp

Creamy white sauce is very versatile! You can add tomato ketchup to make it tomato creamy sauce, or add pureed spinach to make spinach creamy sauce. You can make in big batch and keep them in the freezer. I will share with you more recipes using this white sauce later on. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

[White sauce]

Onion - 1 (small)
Butter - 7 TBS
Flour - 1/3 cup
Milk - 2 cups
Chicken broth - 1 cup (you can use water or more milk if you are out of broth)
Salt & pepper to taste

Thanks to my wonderful sister's suggestions, adding Parmesan Cheese to the white sauce is a great way to add flavor. Thanks, sis! 

[Pasta]

Penne pasta - as much as you need (see TIPS)
Asparagus - 5 stalks, cut in small pieces
Mushroom - 1 cup (sliced/cut in small pieces)
Shrimp - as much as you want (about 1 cup)
Chicken - 1 breast (sliced)

Garlic - 2 cloves (minced) 

[Other optional ingredients you can put]

Bacon
Green/red/yellow peppers (slices)
Salmon

 

Prep: 

1. [White sauce] Chop onion into small pieces.
2. [Pasta] Boil water and cook penne.
3. [Pasta] Prepare vegetables and meat. Season chicken with salt, pepper and paprika. Mince garlic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook:

[White sauce]

1. In a pot, melt butter and add onion. Brown onion until brown.
2. Add the flour to the pot all at once. Keep mixing so it won't stick to the pot.
3. Slowly add milk, keep stirring. It should get thicker as you stir. 
4. Add chicken broth slowly. Continue stirring to your desired creaminess (if you want it more creamy, add less milk/broth.)
5. Add salt & pepper to your taste. 

 [Paste]

1. Fry garlic in 1 TBS of butter into a frying pan or wok. 
2. Cook chicken and cook for few minutes - brown both sides.
3. Add asparagus and mushroom. Cook for couple of minutes.
4. Add shrimp. Add salt & pepper (and other herbs). Makt it your 'own' taste.
5. Add penne pasta to the pan. 
6. Add white sauce to the pasta and mix. 

 Serve: 

1. Put the pasta in a bowl, add parsley for garnish or cheese. 
2. For other variations, add ketchup to make it tomato creamy sauce. You can eat it without the white sauce, too. 
3. Serve with salad

TIPS

• Wheat pasta is good for you, but it's somewhat harder than the regular penne. So I usually mix regular and wheat penne together.

salted fish fried rice

Singaporean men can cook. That's one thing I noticed. They just don't cook, but they cook well! This is a recipe by Bishop Joseph Saw, another wonderful chef we know. Thank you for the wonderful recipe! 

Ingredients: 

4 cups cooked rice (preferred kept overnight) 

3 eggs

1 large piece of salted fish (or 4 small salted fish) 

1 cup of mixed vegetables (green peas, carrots, and/or corn)

3 shallots (chopped) 

4 TBS of warm water (melt enough chicken cube stock, usually 1/2 piece or less) 

5 TBS oil 

Prep: 

1. Soak salted fish. wash and cut into small slices, but if the salted fish come as a whole fish, then soak, cut open and manually get the meat off the bones & skins. It's a labor of love the end result is awesome! 
2. Soak mixed vegetable in a bowl of warm water.
3. Chop 3 shallots (but if you like less onion taste, then 2 will do) 
4. Prepare chicken stock mixture and set aside. 
5. Cook rice and keep overnight.

Cook: 

1.  Heat wok with 3 TBS of oil, put in sliced salted fish and stir fry till brown (do not let it burnt). Set aside. 
2. Lower heat and add 2 TBS of oil, fry the eggs and shallots till fragrant. 
3. Pour in the rice and mix well with the eggs and shallots, increase the fire and add in the mixed vegetables. Do not allow the rice to stick on pan by stirring well. Pour in the chicken stock and thoroughly fry the rice until it gets dry. 
4. Lastly, add in the dried salted fish and mix well. (If you like it to be a bit more salty, add 1/2 tsp salt to taste) 

TIPS

• Salted fish is quite tricky to find. If you live near Chinese market, search for Chinese sausages and fish balls area (refrigerated).  
• Taste your food every step of the way until you are satisfied with the taste. 

singaporean meat roll (ngoh hiang)

My father-in-law is a wonderful chef. He compiled his famous dishes into a book and gave it to my husband for Christmas present last year. It is one of our family treasures now. This recipe is from the book. Thanks, dad!

Ingredients: 

[A]

300g (1.5lbs)  minced pork 

200g (~1lbs)   prawn-meat (shelled & minced)

1 small can     water-chestnut (chopped)

3 stalks green onion (chopped)

3 coriander leaves (chopped) 

1 TBS light soya sauce

1 TBS sesame oil 

2 large pieces of dried bean-curd skin (cut into 6 inch square size)

Oil for frying

Prep:

1. Chop all ingredients. For prawn-meat, use food processor/mincer or use two knives to mince.
2. Mix [A] in a large bowl.
3. Cut the dried bean-curd skin. If it's too hard and brittle, soak in water until you can work with it.

Cook: 

1. Place about 2 TBS of meat mixture onto one sheet of bean curt. 
2. Spread water on the end part of skin to ensure it sticks tight. 
3. Heat 300ml (half of frying pan) oil in wok or frying pan on high heat. Reduce to medium fire, add rolled skin and fry for 1-2 min or until skin turns brown. 

 TIPS 

• Thin layer of meat is easier & faster to cook (less time in oil). So be creative in the shapes and sizes of the rolls. 

claypot chicken rice

I grew up eating this dish, but of course my mom's much better than mine. :) You don't need a clay pot, just a rice cooker will do!

Ingredients: 

1 Chicken breast

3 Taiwanese (or any) Chinese Sausage- sliced

4 Shiitake (sliced)

[A]

2 TBS Dark soy sauce

2 TBS Oyster sauce

2 TBS Sugar

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

2 Cups rice 

Green onion - for garnish

Prep:

1. Cut chicken in bite-size, marinade with [A]. Leave it for 30min - 1 hour.

2. Cut Chinese sausage into slices.

3. Soak dry shiitake in warm water until soften.

4. Chopped green onion 

Cook:

1. Fry chicken for 3 min, turn them half way. 

2. Add sausage & shiitake, cook for another 5 min.

3. If it looks too dry, add oyster sauce & a bit of water. 

4. Wash rice. Follow directions on the rice cooker and add water for 2 cups of rice.

5. Add chicken mixture to the rice, mix around and cook the rice as usual. 

6. Sprinkle green onion on cooked rice. 

TIPS

• I love Taiwanese sausage. It's sweeter than other Chinese sausages. 
• Sliced dried shiitakes are usually cheaper than whole dried shiitakes.

Side kick: Chinese Vegetable with Garlic

Ingredients: 

1 pack Chinese vegetable (any kind you like)

2 cloves of garlic (minced) 

Oil for stir fry (about 2 TBS) 

[choose your seasoning]

Salt & pepper

Soy sauce

oyster sauce

Prep:

1. Wash Chinese vegetable, cut if it too thick at the stem. 

Cook:

2. Fry minced garlic with oil until garlic starts to brown in a wok or deep frying pan.

3. Add vegetable and cover the wok for one minute. 

4. Depending on how you want your vegetables, add different seasonings. 

TIPS

• Experiment with seasonings - finding your own [family]taste is the key to good food. no one family is alike. :)