Simply Craving

Bak Kut Teh – Hokkien for 肉骨茶 or pork rib soup, is a popular dish served in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Taiwan, and also cities of neighboring countries like Batam of Indonesia and Hat Yai of Thailand. This dish consists of meaty pork ribs in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic), boiled together with pork bones for hours.

Depending on individual cooks and chefs, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs. Light and dark soy sauce can also added to the soup during cooking. This dish may also be garnished with chopped coriander or green onions and a sprinkling of fried shallots.

Bak Kut Teh is usually served with rice or noodles, and often served with you tiao (fried dough strips) for dipping into the soup. Sometimes Bak Kut Teh may be combined with prawns to be served as Pork Rib Prawn Noodles dish, which is also popular in Singapore. Soy sauce is preferred as a condiment but it can be either Light soy sauce or Dark soy sauce (which is more preferred), with chopped chilli padi and minced garlic in it.

Since Bak Kut Teh is such a well loved dish, it can also be found in groceries store or supermarkets in its easy-to-prepare form, where people can purchase just so they can prepare this dish at home. It is very easy and simple to put the sachet of ingredients into boiling water, add the pork ribs and enjoy the home-made version with family and friends.