Easy Way to Make Bak Kut Teh

Pork ribs floating in the broth with 25 cloves of garlic!

In Singapore and Malaysia one of the must-try foods is bak kut teh, or pork rib tea simmered in a medicinal broth that is meant to have a warming effect on the body.

Some of the spices in the broth include star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper. Cloves of garlic are added along with pork ribs and simmered for hours.

A friend visiting from Singapore gave me a box with several packets of the bak kut teh soup base and I made it a few days ago. Thankfully this version from Song Fa does not have the strong medicinal taste!

Singaporean brand of bak kut teh

I followed the directions of putting 900g of pork ribs in a pot of boiling water and then rinsing them to get rid of the scum.

Then I cleaned the pot and added fresh water to boil again, and then put in the soup packet which contains two sachets of spices and 25 cloves of garlic! I boiled them together for 15 minutes. 

The broth started to have a slight white pepper taste, and I put the pork ribs back in along with one half teaspoon of dark soy sauce and one half teaspoon of light soy sauce and let the broth simmer for about an hour.

I periodically checked the broth's taste, and the directions said the sachets can be removed whenever you feel the spice level is enough, which I did after an hour.

The soup had a dominant peppery flavour, not too spicy and the pork ribs were very tender to eat. And yes the garlic gloves pretty much disintegrated by this point! The broth had a comforting effect and it's even better removing some of the oil accumulated.

This recipe worked really well and I have a few more packs to enjoy!