Bak Kerng 五香肉卷
This is my mother-in-law’s recipe and one that my wife and I decided to attempt to make today. I decided to follow the exact method and portions according to the original recipe so that I can make changes to it after I have done it. The recipe appended below can literally feed quite a lot of people, so attempt only if you are ready to take on the challenge.
Bak Kerng as the name of the dish is called is really Chinese style meat sausage. In Singaporean hawker centres or food courts, one would easily locate these stalls selling wu xiang or in English would mean “five flavours”. It is as if the five flavours of foods are represented here. Most people refer to Bak Kerng as Wu Xiang and over time, it’s become an easier term to refer to it. Of course if you’re from Penang (Malaysia), you would refer to it as Lor Bak, but essentially, it is the same thing. Suffice to say, the ingredient lists varies from recipe to recipe, the key thing is the taste of the sausage.
This recipe is heap full of ingredients as nothing is left to chance here. Deliciously sweet Swa Lor prawns are used and pork belly instead of just lean pork. The addition of the cuttlefish paste adds a different dimension to the bak kerng and especially after frying it in a mixture of olive and soya bean oil, the traditional dish literally comes alive. A secret ingredient is the rind of the pork belly as I infused the vegetable oil with the fatty pork oil that made the flavour of the bak kerng phenomenal.
Recipe
Ingredients
Cuttlefish Paste 500 grams (I use the brand Seawaves from NTUC Supermarket)
Pork Belly 1Kg (fatty is better)
Water Chestnuts 1Kg
Garlic 50 grams
Shallots 100 grams
Local Celery 100 grams
Eggs 2 whole
Prawns “Swa Lor” or baby shrimp also can, NTUC has pre-packed de-shelled baby shrimps, those are best. 1Kg.
Potato Starch 350 grams (use the whole packet)
Dried Tofu Skin 3 large pieces (The brand Pasar is good and can be found at NTUC Supermarket as well, this should be sufficient to cut into 6 pieces per sheet, total 18 sheets)
Olive Oil & Soya Bean Oil enough to fill a pot to a height of 5 cm for dry frying.
Seasoning
Salt 1 teaspoon
Sugar 1 teaspoon
Chicken Stock 2 teaspoon
Sesame Seed Oil 2 tablespoon
White Pepper 1 tablespoon
Method
1. I asked the butcher to minced the pork belly, it’s so much easier than having to slice the pork belly myself. Last time I used to slice it myself, and I wondered why in the world did I do that silly thing. Make my hand pain only.
2. Remove the rind (the aunty butcher can remove the rind, in fact she needs to remove it before she mince the pork belly for you) and reserve it for frying in the oil.
3. Peel the prawns (only if you bought Swa Lor, otherwise the NTUC baby shrimp is much better, all de-shelled nicely for you, all you need to do is cut into 3 pieces). Since the baby shrimp were so tiny, I basically close them into an O shape and cut once and the prawns becomes 3 pieces. Easy.
4. Finely chop the shallots. Or if you’re lazy, just chop it in a machine. Then peel and slice the waterchestnuts into small pieces. Alternatively, NTUC also sells peeled water chestnuts. Trust me, nobody will know the difference. Buying the muddy version and scrubbing and slicing is so out-dated.
5. Julienne the local celery, use only the stem, but I am cheapo, so I chopped the whole thing.
6. When you are ready to mix, cut an entire packet of cuttlefish paste into the mixing bowl and add all the sliced ingredients into the bowl. You may also add the potato starch (or any type of flour) and the seasonings. Last to go in is the two eggs. The eggs will help to bond the meat mixture together.
7. Once everything is well mixed, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for about an hour to allow the meat to marinate.
8. Cut the tofu skins into small sheets (specifically 30 cm x 30 cm squares) so that you can roll the ingredients. 1 sheet can cut into 6 sheets. 3 sheets, means 18 sheets. 18 sheets means 18 meat rolls. Crack two eggs so that they can act as egg wash to seal the meat sausage. This is to close the ends of the meat sausage. You can also use a starch mixture to close it. Just don’t use super glue.
9. Now you should be ready to rock and roll. Mix a small portion of meat mixture onto the tofu skin and roll into sausages. After that sliced them into bite size pieces before frying. It’s easier to slice if you put them in the fridge. Otherwise, just use a sharp knife.
11. The oil in the pot should be reasonably hot so that when you deep fry the meat sausage, it will be perfectly crispy on the outside and nicely cooked inside.
12. Do this until they are all fried up and delicious. Drain the meat sausages on a metal tray to remove excess oil, and you can serve it in a chilli padi, minced garlic & lime sauce.
Bon Appetit!
