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Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 - Peppery Singapore Style Pork Ribs Soup

Bak Kut Teh literally means Meat Bone Tea. Why is it not Pork Ribs Soup you ask. Well the reason is because when we have Pork Ribs Soup, we would usually have a pot of Chinese Oolong tea to help cut the oiliness of the meat. This is a popular dish served in Singapore and Malaysia where there is a predominant Hokkien and Teochew community.


The version found in Singapore is usually peppery and milder in taste and light in colour while the ones found in Malaysia have a stronger herbal taste and are dark in colour.


Popular side dishes like pork liver, kidneys, salted mustard greens, braised cabbage and you tiao are the norm to have with Bak Kut Teh. A dipping sauce is also essential to have which is dark soy sauce with lots of minced garlic and cut red chillies.


Serves 4


Ingredients

  • 1kg Pork Ribs

  • 1 Tbsp Whole White Peppercorns, toasted and lightly cracked

  • 10 cloves Garlic, kept whole with skin intact

  • 200g Golden Mushrooms or 1 small can button mushrooms

  • 2 Packets Toa Seng Kong BKT Spice Bag or a choice of your favourite brand

  • 2 very small pieces of Rock Sugar

Dipping Sauce

  • Red Chillies, Sliced

  • Garlic, Minced

  • Dark Soy Sauce

Method

  1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes. Take the pork ribs out and submerge in cold water.

  2. In a soup pot, add the Bak Kut Teh spice bags, cracked white peppercorns, whole garlic cloves in 2L water. Bring to a boil, add in the pork spare ribs, bring it back to a boil then lower fire to simmer for 2 hours. You can add the can button mushrooms at this stage is using otherwise fresh enoki mushrooms should be added near the end of cooking so as to avoid the mushrooms becoming too soft.

  3. Taste, add rock sugar accordingly and stir to dissolve.

  4. ​Serve hot with rice.​



Note

  1. You can use your own favourite brand of Bak Kut Teh Spice Bags. Toa Seng Kong BKT Spice Bag just happened to be our family's favourite.

  2. Do use fresh ingredients at all times, I used canned button mushrooms as I ran out fresh mushrooms and I used an alternative.

  3. If you do not like your soup too peppery, you can reduce or omit the white peppercorn completely.

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