05 October 2008

Bak Kuh Teh at home

We cooked bak kuh teh, which is a Singaporean pork rib herbal soup. Literally translated, bak kuh teh means, "pork rib tea".  My wife did much of shopping, prep work, and plating.  I handled the boiling and simmering, the timing, and adding the flavor packets, courtesy of Prima Taste.  Without the box kit, I think we would have been working on a version from scratch for some 6 to 8 hours.  A lessor known aspect of Singaporean cuisine, at least to outsiders like me, is the laser-like emphasis on the quality of all dipping sauces which are always made homemade using fresh chopped chile peppers and other ingredients.  My wife prepared two different dips using two different viscosity grades of soy sauce, along with fresh thai chile peppers and garlic.  Combining the tender simmered pork, the peppery herbal broth, the fresh cilantro, the savory-spicy dips, and steamed white rice, into a single mouthful, was quite the gastronomic indulgence for this weekend.


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