teochew

Bak Kut Teh

Ho Sim Lang

Ho Sim Lang

Bak Kut Teh

This is my all time favourite local dish. I guess you would know by now that I have a lot of all time favourites. It is okay I supposed since we are Singaporeans. Every local delicacy it seems is an all time favourite with most of us. Anyway, I love Bak Kut Teh and I am always on a lookout for a good Bak Kut Teh stall. To me the one at Prome Road at Balestier rocks. Second in line is the one at Sin Ming Ave. The rest of the Bak Kut Teh stalls that people rave about is just so-so IMHO.

Anyway, so I decided that I would replicate the humble Bak Kut Teh for dinner. A quick search and guess what? Mr Seetoh from Makansutra has already beat me to it and has developed a simple and easy to cook Singapore  styled Bak Kut Teh. Enjoy people. If you noticed, I have already wrote a Bak Kut Teh recipe, but I really love this dish, so this time, I decided to try it again, but without the spice packet that I would usually get from NTUC. I want to see if I can make an awesome Bak Kut Teh without “cheating”.

Recipe

Ingredients

400 grams Garlic

50 grams White Peppercorns

1 kg Pork Ribs

1 kg Pork Bones

5 litres of Water

3 tsp of Sea Salt

 

Method:

1. Par boil the pork ribs, then discard water to get rid of scum. Then boil a fresh pot of water – 5 litres. Add the garlic, (slightly bruised), white peppercorns (slightly cracked and roasted over a pan). Add sea salt.

2. Boil on high heat for 15 minutes, then place the pot into the thermal cooker.

3. When you’re back from work, boil the broth again, and then have a taste test. Adjust with sea salt accordingly. Serve with steam rice.

 

Bon Appetit!

Braised Duck (Teochew style)

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Braised Duck (Teochew style)

Braised duck or the teochew like to call it, lo ack  (which basically means braised duck). I decided that I would learn and make an awesome braised duck yesterday, and that’s exactly what I did today. Thanks to this awesome braised duck video that I saw on YouTube.

Grandma’s recipes. Totally rocks! I decided that I would adapt her recipe to my preference and style of cooking. I like using the thermal cooker, so my recipe works with the thermal cooker.

Are you ready? Here goes!

Recipe

Ingredients

1. Half a duck *chopped*
2. Galangal or blue ginger – 6-7 slices
3. Raw sugar – 4 Tbsp
4. 1 cinnamon stick
5. Dark soy sauce *tai hua brand, standard quality* small bottle can liao
6. 250 ml of water.

Method:

1. Salt the duck lightly and then wash it away. I skipped this step because I found it quite dumb. Plus I didn’t want to waste salt.

2. Heat the sugar in a wok until it turns brown. Make sure it doesn’t burn. So moderating the fire is critical.

3. Dump the pieces of duck into the work and allow the sugar to coat the duck. The grandma video say 8 Tbsp of sugar. I think it is too much, so I used half.

4. After you roughly got some sticky sugar onto the duck, you then add half a bottle of dark soy sauce. Don’t go and buy the big bottle and add half a bottle. It is not the same Ok?

5. Add the sliced blue ginger into the pot. If you don’t like the ducky smell, add more ginger. Or par boil the duck first.

6. Add the cinnamon stick. Then add water. Adjust accordingly.

7. Boil at high heat for at least 15 minutes, then dump the pot into the thermal cooker and allow it to slow cook for at least throughout the day or overnight. Up to you.

8. Serve with steam rice.

Bon Appetit !!