Bak Kut Teh (Meat Bone Tea)

We love bak kut teh...its an awesome dish.  My Grandma often make BKT and there were always stories that came with each dish.  I remember her telling us that the kuli (asian slave) were the first people who ate BKT as it was a herbal tonic to "pu" their bodies. My Grandma has 2 versions of BKT - light colour broth which is peppery and dark broth with medicinal herbs.  When I was a teenager, my Grandma surprised us with another version - Chic Kut Teh (instead of pork, chicken is used).  We normally eat BKT with yau char kway (deep fried dough stick) and perserved vegetables.

The weather is turning cold and soup is the way to go right now.  So, we decided to whip-up this delicious BKT for the whole family.  I have no time to make the yau char kway and my other half said not to bother as we don't really eat it anyway.  The most important thing is the BKT and the preserved vegetables.  Here's a photo of our BKT.

Till next time....lets do the BKT dance!!!

Happy Mother's Day with Pork Kuey Teow Teng (Pork Rice Noodles Soup Version)

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers!!!

I remember when I was young when my Grandma will be simmering a pot of stock (chicken bones, pork bones, seafood, etc) to make Kuey Teow Teng for Mother's Day. Its a tradition in my family where all Mother's will be served with this delicious one dish meal upon waking up. Besides this delicious broth, there will be all sorts of yummylicious meat and seafood such as prawns, minced pork, fishballs, fishcake, liver, all sorts of seafood, etc, etc, etc which is served with this dish. This is a day where all Mothers' will be pampered to the core and this delicious soupy dish will boost the immune system.

I decided to try to make this delicious dish for Mother's Day....its for my whole family on this cold and rainy day.  I made the broth a day before to enhance the taste. As my Grandma used to say, the longer you simmer the broth, the more sedap it will be. I wanted to get all the condiments just like my Grandma but my other half told me not to do so much....just use whatever we have in the house...alamak!!! can die!!!  Oh well, since its raining, I tak kuasa to go to the supermart.  So, in the end, I just use what I can get my hands on.

Here's my version of my Grandma's Pork Kuey Teow Teng.

Got to go now...my kuey teow teng is waiting for me....

Chicken Wrap, Chicken Tandoori Wrap and Ham Wrap with Salad

I love wraps as its easy to do and easy to eat. However, I never thought that I would do it at work since I am a Pastry Chef. Well, I guess never say never..haha! When I was younger, it was a special treat for me when my parents brought me to TGIF and I had the chicken fajitas with tortilla wraps. When I grew older, tortilla wraps were everywhere and it was so common. I remembered my parents telling me that tortillas are from Mexico and it means little cakes.  

Wrapping a tortilla wrap is pretty different from wrapping a popiah, but once you get the hang of it, its really easy.  At work, we have quite a number of varieties of wraps - roast chicken wrap, tandoori chicken wrap, roast beef wrap, corn beef wrap, lamb wrap, ham wrap, egg mayo wrap, etc... and all these wraps will be wrap with salads.  This is a delicious and healthy lunch I must say.  Here's a photo which I took at work...

Try a wrap today....it will really make your day!!!

Bak Kut Teh, Pig's Trotter in Sweetened Vinegar and Salted Vegetable

I remember those nights when DH and I went out and ate bak kut teh, chee keok chou, salted vegetables and yau char kway when we went back to our homeland.  These BKT stalls open till wee hours and as we were in a way "tourists"...we can neglect our sleeping time and makan all the way. When we got home, we missed those times as 99% of the shops close after 11pm.  Now and then, we will make our own version of bak kut teh  and chee keok chou. However, we never made 2 of the dishes together.

This week, we were talking about it and was thinking of whipping up these 2 dishes together...trying to re-capture those memories of the good old days. We made both...Chee Keok Chou and Bak Kut Teh.  Here's the 2 photos which I managed to take before a group of us (including our peng yu) ate it all up...ha!ha!

We also made steamed veggies with oyster sauce to go with our rice...must have our veggies!!!

Till our next food adventure....ta-daa!!!