Bak kut teh
A closeup of bak kut teh
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| Place of origin | China or Malaysia |
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| Region or state | Hokkien- and Teochew-speaking areas of Malaysia, Singapore and Riau Islands (Indonesia) |
| Main ingredients | pork ribs, complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) |
| Variations | Hokkien and Teochew |
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| Bak kut teh | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||
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| Literal meaning | meat bone tea | ||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | ròugǔchá |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | jyoek6 gwat1 caa4 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | bah-kut-tê |
Bak-kut-teh (also spelt bah-kut-teh; Chinese: 肉骨茶; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-kut-tê, Teochew dialect: nêg8-gug4-dê5) is a pork rib dish cooked in broth popularly served in Malaysia and Singapore, where there is a predominant Hoklo and Teochew community, and also in neighbouring areas like the Sumatra, Indonesia and Southern Thailand.
The name literally translates from hokkien(dialect) as "meat bone tea", and at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours. Despite its name, there is in fact no tea in the dish itself; the name refers to a strong oolong Chinese tea which is usually served alongside the soup in the belief that it dilutes or dissolves the copious amount of fat consumed in this pork-laden dish.
However, additional ingredients may include offal, varieties of mushroom, choy sum, and pieces of dried tofu or fried tofu puffs. Additional Chinese herbs may include yu zhu (玉竹, rhizome of Solomon's Seal) and ju zhi (buckthorn fruit), which give the soup a sweeter, slightly stronger flavor. Light and dark soy sauce are also added to the soup during cooking, with varying amounts depending on the variant - the Teochews version is lighter than the Hokkiens'. The dish can be garnished with chopped coriander or green onions and a sprinkling of fried shallots.
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Wikipedia