Home Cooked Bak-Kut-Teh/Herbal Pork Ribs Soup (肉骨茶)

Home cooked or brewed bak-kut-teh is very easy and simple to prepare.  If you do not like to take the trouble to get the full prescription of the herbs from the Chinese Medical shop, there are pre-packed  bak-kut-teh herbs and spices available too.  

I never stick to a particular brand of pre-packed bak-kut-teh and would try whichever that catch my attention during our casual shopping.  Besides, I also like to stock up a few pre-packed of bak-kut-teh and it comes in handy when I run out of ideas what soup to cook for my family.   Sun Kee pre-packed is also one of our favorites.

Previously, when cooking bak-kut-teh using pre-packed herbs and spices, I just 'dumped'  the sachets into the pot without any additional herbs or spices.  However, when I came across Boon's Little Kitchen Cookbook, I learned something new!  I added pieces of dang gui (Radix Angelica) and wow... the soup definitely tastes so much better as dang gui itself  is sweet, pungent and bitter in taste.  One of the many advantages of dang gui is it benefits the digestive system by maintaining proper metabolism and improved immune functioning. By boosting immunity, the herb also helps to protect our body from various diseases and infections. However, men, be cautioned! Dang gui can be very 'heaty' for some men and have it moderately as 'overdosed' of dang gui will see you having fever and even nose bleeding!

(Recipe according to Boon's Little Kitchen Cookbook page 95, with minor modifications in red)

Ingredients (A) : 

-1kg shin (I omitted this)

- 2 spare ribs (1kg, blanched)

- 1 pc pork belly (I omitted)

Ingredients  (B) :

- 6 big bulbs smoked garlic (unpeeled)

- 2 sachets pre-packed bak-kut-teh

- 10gm sweet dang gui head (I used 4 thin slices only)

- 3 litres water

Seasonings : (to taste)

- 4 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

- 60g rock sugar (I omitted)

- 1 tsp salt

Method :

1)  Bring water to a boil.  Add in ingredients (A) and (B). 

2)  Bring it to another boil. Lower heat and cook for 45 minutes.

3)  Add in seasonings and bring to a rapid boil.

4)  Turn to low heat and simmer for another 45 minutes.

5)  Serve hot with steamed rice.

Simple and nutritious soup

I'm sharing this post with : Cook-Your-Books #6 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

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Refreshing Rice Porridge/Congee with Sweet Pototoes

Usually when any member of my family is under the weather, rice porridge or congee is the best choice. Besides being refreshing, it's also excellent for those who have weak digestive tract from chronic or acute illness and also for healing nourishment.

Cooking rice porridge or congee is easy and simple. An amount of grains with 5 to 6 times more water is all that is needed for plain rice congee and  preferably, a pinch of sea salt is added. Plain rice congee can be of white or brown rice grains.  For added flavour or health benefits and healing purposes, a combination of grains, beans, vegetables, meat or medicinal herbs is commonly practiced by my family since our grandparents' era.  In fact most of my uncles and aunts as well as my parents are quite well equipped with Chinese medicinal herbs knowledge as both my grandparents were Chinese sinseh.  Too bad, my knowledge on this topic is quite limited and I regretted that I didn't really make it a point to learn it from them.  Fortunately, I am still able to cook simple yet nutritious and healthy meal for my own family, hehehe...  Not too bad, isn't it????  

Ingredients :

- 1 cup of rice grains - I used brown rice (thoroughly washed)

- 1 medium sized orange sweet potato (peeled and cut)

- 6 cups of water (adjust the water depending on individual's preferences)

Method :

1)  Put washed rice and water into a pot and bring to a boil.

2)  Lower the heat and simmer until the rice is semi-cooked.

3)  Add in sweet potatoes and continue to cook till porridge consistency and the potatoes are soft.

4)  If you need to add water, remember to add hot water.

5)  Serve hot for breakfast or lunch.

I prefer my porridge to be super silky smooth (you need to simmer it longer) but hubby likes his rice porridge just as the above picture and my girls like theirs to be very watery.  So, each time whenever I cook porridge, the consistency of the porridge also varies depending on the type of porridge and the 'demand', hehehe...

We usually eat this with some side dishes or condiments if we are having it for lunch.  As this was for breakfast, we had it with Homemade Salted Duck Egg <--- (click here for a step-by-step recipe).

Isn't this a very simple yet healthy breakfast for your beloved family?

In case you are interested, here's the  link to my previous porridge/congee recipes :-

Sweet Bitter Gourd Porridge

Malay style porridge : Bubur Lambuk/Spiced Porridge

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Braised Chicken with Bitter Gourd 苦瓜焖鸡 and Boon's Little Kitchen Cook Book

This is a very classic dish which most of us are very familiar with especially the Asian Chinese. Those children who do not favor bitter gourd will start to love this humble gourd once they are being introduced to this dish.  My children are no exceptional too.  When they were still at a tender age,  this is one of the many bitter gourd dishes which I introduced to them. Gradually, they had learned to like bitter gourd and in fact love this braised chicken with bitter gourd and fermented black beans.

I am glad to say that my preparation for this dish has improved since I came across this recipe from Boon's Little Kitchen, page 86. Boon's Little Kitchen is an ideal cookbook for those who are always scratching their head what to serve a "3 dishes 1 soup" meal for their beloved family. Well, with this cook book, you would not run out of ideas for simple yet wonderful and delicious home-cooked '3 dishes 1 soup" meal for your beloved family.  With just RM18, you will get 12 sets of  "3 dishes 1 soup" meals that comes with awesome and mouthwatering food pictures!!!  You may also like to visit his blog at http://boonslittlekitchen.blogspot.com.

Recipe source : Boon's Little Kitchen (with some minor modifications in red)

Ingredients :

- 1 bitter gourd (discard seeds and cut)

- 1/2 chicken (cut into bite sized)

- 1 tbsp fermented black beans/tau see (rinsed and roughly chopped)

- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic

- 200ml water

Marinate :

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp tapioca flour

Seasonings : (to taste)

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tsp of caramel sauce 

- a dash of sugar

Method :

1)  Marinate chicken for 30 minutes.

2)  Heat some oil in a medium sized pot.  Saute garlic and tau see until fragrant.

3)  Add in marinated chicken pieces.

4)  Fry until the meat become whitish. Add in bitter gourd.

5)  Add in seasonings.  Stir fry and mix well.

6)  Add water and cover.  Let it  cook for five minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked over low heat.

7) Finally, add a dash of sugar.  Stir and mix well.

8)  Dish out and serve with steamed rice.

Do add extra water if you like to mix your rice with the sauce

Isn't this a good way of introducing bitter gourd to your children?

Have a wonderful week ahead :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

I'm also linking this post with :Cook-Your-Books #4 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

To receive new updates, do LIKE me on FACEBOOK. Thanks!
http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/6015563 Follow this blog with bloglovin Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me comments.. I really appreciate all your visits and comments! Have a nice day :)