Bak kut teh
Bak kut teh is a
Chinese soup concoction popularly served in
Malaysia and
Singapore. Generally it is cooked in a clay pot with various parts of the pig, varieties of mushroom, lettuce, and dried
tofu sheets or pieces . The soup itself is a
broth which consists of several herbs and spices (including
star anise,
cinnamon,
cloves and
garlic) boiled together with soup bones for hours. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to the soup during cooking, with varying amounts depending on the variant.
|
Bak Kut Teh is typically served in a steaming clay pot |
Bak kut teh is best eaten with
rice, and in Malaysia, it is often served with strips of
fried dough called
Youtiao.
Soy sauce (usually light soy sauce, but dark soy sauce is also offered sometimes) is preferred as a condiment, with which chopped
chilli padi and minced garlic is taken together.
Tea of various kinds (the
Tieguanyin variety is especially popular in the Klang Valley area of Malaysia) is also usually served in the belief that it dilutes or dissolves the copious amount of fat consumed in this pork-laden dish.
Klang, widely believed to be the home of
bak kut teh, is famous for her many restaurants serving the best and tastiest
bak kut teh in the region. Indeed, the dish is reported to have been invented in
Port Klang for port
coolies there in the early
20th century, to supplement their meagre diet and as a tonic to boost their health.
There are numerous variants of
bak kut teh with its cooking style closely influenced by the prevailing Chinese enclave of a certain geographical location. In Singapore, there are three types of
bak kut teh. The
Hokkien, who prefer saltier food, use more soy sauce, which results in a darker soup. The
Cantonese, with a soup-drinking culture, add medicinal herbs to create a stronger flavoured soup. The most common variant is the
Teochew style, which uses more pepper in the soup.
A less fatty variation of
bak kut teh made with chicken instead of pork is called
chik kut teh. It also serves as a
halal version of the dish.
*
Origins*
recipe — by Amy Beh
*
Singapore Bak Ku Teh-Singapore Lifestyle Wiki*
A primer for eating Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia*
Review of Bak Kut Teh restaurants in Malaysia — by KY
