Savoury

Kiam Chye Duck Soup

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Kiam Chye Duck Soup

I realized while trying to pen down this recipe that there was no way of phrasing this delicacy without murdering the name of the dish. Maybe not murder but definitely it would be a herculean challenge to describe the name in just one language alone or one that everyone would understand.

If I said Kiam Chye Arc, you might think it was a monument of some sort. Or salted mustard duck soup and it might be a tad too literal for some. Furthermore, it might not bring to mind that old familiarity. Or if I were to call it 咸菜鸭, you might wonder why I am writing this recipe in English. Either way it would be best to come to a compromise of terms. So Kiam Chye Duck it is then.

Anyway, this is my first time trying this recipe and according to the law of trying a recipe for the first time, I should really hammer in the works but yet not cloud the original intention of the dish. You got to taste the salted mustard, the indelible flavour of the duck and the sourness of the tomatoes and sour plums. Everyone else in this quintessential Macbeth broth is secondary. Now all you need is a little lightning, thunder and rain and it would be perfect.

Recipe

Ingredients

1. 1 kg or Half a duck *buy from wet market is cheaper*
2. 500 grams of Kiam Chye aka salted mustard
3. Bunch of garlic.
4. 100 grams of ginger *sliced*
5. 4 sour plums *Chinese preserved plums*
6. 3 medium Tomatoes

Method

1. Par boil the chopped duck pieces for about 5 minutes. Discard the water. This is to get rid of scum as duck meat tends to have lots of that. Also it is very oily, so best to boil twice and discard the water.

2. Place the Kiam Chye leaf by leaf into the pot. Cut tomatoes into quarts and dump them in. Dump the garlic in the pot and the sour plums. Dump the sliced ginger into the pot. Once they are all in the pot, make sure the water covers the ingredients.

3. Boil the ingredients in high heat for 15 minutes before putting the pot into the thermal cooker to slowly braise the meat further. By evening it would be ready and delicious.

Bon Appetit!

Bak Kut Teh Recipe

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Bak Kut Teh Recipe

My all time favourite (I realized I have a lot of favourites!) Bak Kut Teh – home cooked, and very easy to do actually. These days with the easy herbs spice sachets available at NTUC supermarkets, you have no reason not to try it out.

My only issue with these herbs spices is the taste at the end of the day. Sometimes some brands the taste cannot make it. By far red man brand from phoon huat is the best. The blend and taste is really tok kong. So I couldn’t get to phoon huat that day and so I settled for this other brand Seah’s something-something from ntuc.

The taste is not too bad just that I may have added too much garlic perhaps. But it’s so so easy to make. Try it.

Recipe

Ingredients

1. 500 grams of pork ribs *ask the butcher to give you the type for making bak kut teh.*
2. 1 packet of spices *Seah’s*
3. A bunch of white peppercorns.
4. A bunch of garlic 6-7 pieces.

Method
1. Boil a pot of water. Par boil the ribs for about 5 minutes and discard water to remove the scum. Add a fresh container of water. Then continue boiling the pork ribs in the new water.

2. Add the sachet of bak kut teh spices. Add white peppercorns and garlic pieces. You may leave the skins on.

3. Boil for 15 minutes at high heat. Off the fire and place pot of soup into thermal cooker to allow it to continue cooking in the vacuum pot.

4. By evening it would be perfect. Succulent, meat falling off the bone. I still prefer red man bak kut teh spices though. Much nicer.

Bon Appetit!