Bak Kut Teh （Pork Ribs Tea Soup) 肉骨茶

Bak Kut Teh (Pork Ribs in Tea Soup) is  my dad's favorite. My dad is a pork lover. He likes almost every part of a pig from pork ear, pork belly, pork tail, pork trotter to pork intestines. Although mom seldom cook Bak Kut Teh at home, but cooking it once in a blue moon does cheer him up.

I don't like Bak Kut Teh until the recent years. This is my second time of cooking bak kut teh over the past few years. The savory soup is heavenly infused with Chinese herbs, but not overpowering. It'll be so blissful to have a bowl of hot soup on rainy day to warm up my stomach.

A bowl of home cooked bak kut teh...hmm...can you smell the aroma? I don't add pork intestines, but I have pork belly, pork ribs, meatballs, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, green veggies, and fried-beancurd. With the dipping sauce, that's enough to boost my appetite.

I'm sharing this non-halal dish in Merdeka Open House 2010 organized by Babe in the City - KL

Bak Kut Teh （Pork Ribs Tea Soup)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

450gm of pork ribs, chopped into pieces
250gm of pork belly, cut into bite size
20 meatballs
3 pieces of hard beancurd, cut into bite-sized and fried till golden brown
6 caps of dried shiitake mushroom, dehydrated
200gm of enoki mushroom, cut-off the bottom part and cleaned
1 bulb of garlic, cleaned
40gm of bak kut teh spices mix (I use a packet of "Claypot" brand Bakuteh Kau)
yau mak or lettuce 
2 liter water or more

Seasonings:

1tbsp of oyster sauce
1/2 tsp of dark soy sauce (for coloring)
light soy sauce to taste

Dipping Sauce (Mix-up all):

chopped garlic
bird's eye chili, chopped
dark soy sauce
light soy sauce

Steps:

1. Bring water to boil in a pot. Add a bulb of garlic and the 2 filter bags of bak kut teh spices. Leave it simmers for 15 minutes.

2. Blanch the pork ribs and pork belly in hot boiling water to remove scum.

3. Add the pork ribs and pork belly into the soup and leave it simmer for 1 hour. Top up water from time to time. Add seasonings.

4. Add the shiitake mushroom and fried beancurd. Leave it simmers for another 1 hour.

5. Add meatballs, enoki mushroom and veggies. Dish out and serve hot with white rice or yam rice.