Bak Kut Teh

Recipe: Bak Kut Teh(肉骨茶)
Serves: 3 - 4




Ingredients

• 700g pork spareribs
• 300g pork belly
• 3 garlic heads
• 1500ml water
• 3½ TBSP light soy sauce or to taste

Side Ingredients

• 2 shiitake mushrooms (soaked)
• 100g enoki mushrooms (rinsed)
• lettuce (rinsed)
• 6 - 10 pcs tofu puffs (halved)
• 400ml water

Bak Kut Teh Sachet

• 10g dried pilose asiabell root（党参）
• 7g dried angelica sinensis slice（当归片）
• 10g dried polygonthemum（玉竹）
• 5g barbary wolfberry / goji berry（枸杞）
• 1 tsp. rhizoma ligustici wallichii（川芎）
• 1" x 1" size rehmannia root（熟地）
• 2 slices licorice root slice（甘草）
• 2 pcs dried longan meat（干桂圆肉）
• 4 pcs whole cloves（丁香）
• 1/8 tsp. fennel seeds（小茴香）
• half of a star anise（八角）
• 3g cinnamon stick（桂皮）
• 5g whole black peppercorns（黑胡椒粒）
• 1" x 1" size dried tangerine peel（陈皮）

Dipping sauce

• bird's eyes chilies (cut diagonally)
• minced garlic (optional)
• light soy sauce

Topping For White Rice (*optional)

• shallot crisps

Measurements: tsp = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon

Preparation
1. Put all the all the bak kut teh sachet ingredients in a tea filter bag or wrap them in muslin cheese cloth and tie it tightly with a string. You may pound all the ingredients except for black peppercorns.	2. Soak garlic heads in water for 1 minute. Peel the outer skin of garlic heads, leave the inner skin on the cloves. Remove any spoilt cloves. Briefly rinse garlic heads with running water and set aside.	3. Slice shiitake mushrooms. Trim off about 0.5" of the bottom stems of enoki mushrooms (do not cut them thoroughly), separate them roughly into 0.25" bunch. Chop lettuce lengthwise. Cut bird's eye chilies diagonally, put them into a condiment saucer, add soy sauce to cover the chilies.
4. Fill half a deep pot with water and bring to a boil. Parboil spareribs and pork belly in boiling water over medium heat for 2 minutes until froth rises to the surface. Turn off the heat.	5. Fish out spareribs and pork belly. Briefly rinse them under cold running water and drain.	6. Discard water in deep pot. Re-fill deep pot with 1500ml clean water and bring to a boil on high heat.
7. Add bak kut teh sachet and garlic heads. Cover with lid and simmer over high heat for 2 minutes.	8. Add soy sauce and continue simmer over high heat for 1 minute, with lid on.	9. Add spareribs and pork belly. Cover with lid. Let bring to a boil again over high heat, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue simmer over low heat for at least 1 hour.
10. After bak kut teh is done, transfer the used bak kut teh sachet and 2 cooked garlic heads in a small pot. Fill the pot with 100ml bak kut teh soup base and 400ml water. Cover with lid and bring it to a boil. Turn heat to low and continue simmer for 10 minutes.	11. Transfer the used bak kut teh sachet and garlic heads back to the bak kut teh pot. Add shiitake mushrooms and tofu puffs to the small pot. Press and immerse tofu puffs in the soup with a soup ladle. Cover with lid. Simmer on medium low heat for 8 minutes.	12. Add enoki mushrooms. Press and immerse them in the soup with a soup ladle. Simmer on high for 40 sec - 1 minute without cover. Add salt to taste if needed.
13. Turn off the heat and add in half of the chopped lettuce.	14. Slice pork belly, about 1cm thick. Arrange spareribs and sliced pork belly in a claypot or a large serving bowl, ladle bak kut teh soup into the bowl. Top bak kut teh with the remaining chopped lettuce. In another serving bowl, pour the side ingredients and soup into it. Serve bak kut teh hot with steamed white rice garnished with shallot crisps and chilies in soy sauce as its dipping sauce.

Notes

Shiitake mushrooms and tofu puffs can affect the original taste of bak kut teh. I am particular with the taste. So I cook them separately to have one pot with the original bak kut teh soup base to serve with meat and another one to serve with the side ingredients. If you are using a claypot, bring your claypot bak kut teh to a boil just before serving and turn off the heat as soon as it starts bubble. Then only garnish with the remaining chopped lettuce. Bak kut teh is commonly served with Chinese crullers too.