I always thought it’s tough to cook the Singapore style of bak ku teh, that’s why the really famous ones locally are always seen in crowds. But then again, it’s actually not that tough at all, and only a few ingredients and time is all you need ! And you certainly do not need any premix at all. In fact the raw ingredients itself are perhaps even cheaper than the premix !!
The end result is a very peppery and rich bak ku teh ! I think it isn’t in any way inferior as compared to the famous stalls and it’s certainly very very delicious !! And cooking it up in a clay pot gives the soup an extra aromatic boost. Having 1/2kg of pork ribs used 50g of white peppercorns which is just nice for a whole bottle that was purchased. So there wasn’t any wastage at all !
I prefer the Singapore style of bak ku teh anytime as compared to the many types. The hot peppery soup and a bowl of rice is all I ever need to complete this meal. And this is the kind of soup that I will never get sick of having day in day out.
And if you need fresh pork ribs anytime, do get them from PurelyFresh to complete your bak ku teh feast!
Enjoy !!
Singapore Style Claypot Bak Ku Teh 砂锅肉骨茶
Total time
Recipe type: Chinese
Cuisine: Main
500g pork ribs
some button mushrooms (optional)
1.2L water
10 pcs whole garlics, with skin on
50g white peppercorns
½ tsp chicken powder
1 tbsp cooking oil
You can also dip some you tiao (fried fritters) into the bak ku teh soup. This is a very popular way of enjoying the bak ku teh soup locally.
Although it’s old fashioned and I’ve probably say it countless times, still I wanna say it !! LOL. TIME FLIES !!! And we are into the second half of the year already. Gosh, I haven’t been keeping track of how far my resolutions have gone by, but something definite is that, I ought to push myself harder into achieving more goals. But you know la, sometimes lazy bug just gotten too much into me. Haha.
Nevertheless, I geared myself up to cook up this really Singapore styled Char Kway Teow. Why do I say singapore styled ? Because I grew up eating and enjoying the sg style which comprises of pork lard, cockles and perhaps some cai xin and fish cakes too in the local char kway teow scene. I always tell the char kway teow uncle to cook a little sweeter for me (because I liked it that way) and also to cook the hum (cockles) well (熟一点). Although I know cockles has to eaten half raw to taste good, but it often gives me the runs, similar to the problem of oysters from our fried oyster cake.
And a fiery hot flame is needed to cook up this local dish which though we couldn’t get the same such “wok hei” from home, but still I think it’s pretty good enough, considering we omit such things such as MSG. LOL.
Although some people say that using pork lard for cooking is unhealthy, but I ever heard of another saying is that in actual fact, the bottled oils that we are using are even unhealthier because they have gone through some forms of chemical treatments and contain preservatives for the long shelf life. Hence said, the au natural pork lard is in another sense free of such preservatives and chemicals and thus better for health. Hmmm… I don’t have any take on this for once, because I feel that as long as all things are taken in moderation, that should be fine ? What say you ?
Old schools hawker dishes like these have to be a keeper because they help to preserve the local heritage. Just like using abackpack reminds me of the times when I was still in school and I am missing much of those old school days. If you have followed me on IG, remember I posted something earlier on this stylish backpack from Gaston Luga ? Use my promo code “eatwhattonight15” and get 15% off + Free shipping + 20% off as tax rebate (from non-Eu country) when you shop atwww.gastonluga.com.
And if you have noticed, there are certain stalls that sell the Char Kway Teow in wet or “nua nua” version. But I don’t particularly fancy those. I prefer the drier kinds for this, hence you can see it from my own home cooked version.
Hope you enjoy this local dish as much as I do !! Happy kway-teowing !!
Get your fresh groceries from PurelyFresh online to whip up this all time favourite local dish today !
Enjoy !!
Singapore Style Char Kway Teow 新加坡式炒粿条
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
200g kway teow (flat rice noodles)
50g yellow noodles
70g caixin vegetables
70g fish cakes, sliced diagonally
1 chinese sausage, sliced diagonally
150g cockles (the weight is with shells) + 3 tbsp cockles juice (after washing, pry open cockles shell with a small sharp knife and remove the cockles, the juice is the “blood” of the cockles. Add some water if it’s not enough to make up the quantity.)
50g beansprouts
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp deep fried diced pork lard
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2½ tbsp sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
1 tbsp water
1 tsp fish sauce
some cooking oil
1) It’s not economical to heat up a small quantity of oil for 1 tbsp of pork lard. Hence, I prepared more and keep the rest for future use or other dishes. 2) Adjust the sweet soya sauce (kecap manis) according to your preference of sweetness for the dish. 3) You can reduce the time to cook the cockles if you prefer them to be more raw.
Glad to share that the renowned tea creators T2 Tea is serving up our very own Singapore style of Breakfast tea that reminisce the old school kaya toast that most of us can easily reconcile with. The tea is made up of a good mix of puerh, green tea, coconut and pandan flavors which boosts of a very distinctive pandan aroma even before the tea packaging is unwrapped !
T2 Tea originates from Melbourne, Australia. With much devotion and commitment in creating the best tea experience, they have since evolved much and have successfully brought their teas across the globe to several countries world wide including Singapore ! And that’s where the very Singapore style of Breakfast tea is specially curated to better fit the taste buds of the locals.
Now I really loved the fact that the tea itself smells heavenly even before it was brewed. The tea was infused with a rich and aromatic coconut and pandan flavor and yet very enjoyable on a pleasant and soothing palate. Essentially liked what it was advertised, it just literally felt liked sipping our kaya toast in a cup !
Given our warm humid weather in the sunny island recently and armed with the task of creating something interesting with T2 Tea, the idea of incorporating the tea in some refreshing jelly creations pretty much appeal. And so, here we go !!
The core of the jelly creations are made out of simply agar agar jelly powder, coconut milk, pandan leaves, sugar and T2 Tea. And to further make them more appealing and innovative, they are made into jelly cups, jelly “candies” and a jelly “cake” with alternate colors side by side which I will be presenting it here on how you can get that done, with a little more effort.
With these you probably would have realize too that whilst the usage of T2 Tea and its likes are not just confined to bakes or cakes, they can equally be served in lovely looking jelly products that doubles up as reinvigorating desserts during summer. So have fun jelly-ing !
I’ve been soooo slow in my blog postings recently despite the fact that I still have a couple of recipes on hand to post… Mainly due to the year end lazy bug getting into me and also for the fact that I’ve been clearing a whole year worth of annual leave in this last 2 months of the year that rendered me all the laziness. LOL. But I really enjoyed the peace and all the nothing-to-do time during the leave period now even though I’m unable to travel. It kinds of calm me down and allow me to simply chuck everything aside and just focus on a good bout of rest whilst emptying the brains and mind at the same time. Hope it has been the same for you too.
Coming back to this dish, it has been on my mind for a good period of time to try out this recipe but was held back simply because of a single ingredient which I do not usually have on hand, and that is tomato sauce. Because I don’t usually take tomato sauce as a dipping sauce by itself, so I thought it would be rather wasteful to buy a whole bottle of it just to satisfy this dish. But nevertheless, I bought a small bottle then because my heart is dying to cook Singapore Style Fried Beehoon at home !
And glad to say there was no regrets ! Although I am still having 90% of the tomato sauce sitting around, but I guess I can still use it for other purposes like a sweet and sour dish soon. This Singapore Style Fried Vermicelli is really tasty and I love the bout of sweet and savouriness that comes along with it. Notwithstanding the fact that I enjoyed all kinds of fried vermicelli from economical fried beehoon, to vegetarian to pork legs vermicelli, still the Singapore style never fails to impress.
For those who are based in Melbourne Australia, you can get your your hands on this Asian grocery online to try out the recipe !
