Another soup recipe for the freezing soul

Today I am going to present you a soup recipe called "Bak Kut Teh" or Meat Bone Tea (literally translated). Bak kut teh is usually eaten with rice and often served with Chinese crullers for dipping into the soup. Ever since the outbreak of Nipah virus, a variation of this recipe has evolved and it comes with a funny name called "Chi Kut Teh". In this variation, chicken is used to substitute pork. This versatile soup recipe is actually quite suitable for a cold wintry days.

Ingredients:-

* 1 pound pork spareribs (chopped into bit size pieces)
* 5 cloves garlic - peeled
* 1 thumb-sized piece tung kwai (optional)
* 2 1/2 quarts water
* 3 cinnamon sticks
* 5 whole star anise or broken pieces equal to 5 stars
* 1 tablespoon white peppercorns
* 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, or to taste
* 2 tablespoons crisp shallot flakes
* 1 tablespoons shredded coriander
* Soy sauce with thinly sliced red chillies (for dipping)
* 2 Chinese crullers, sliced diagonally (optional)

Preparation:-

* Place spare rib pieces in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover them
* Parboil until foam rises to the surface
* Drain, rinse the meat with cold water and return it to the pot
* Add garlic, tung kwai and 2 1/2 quarts of water
* Wrap cinnamon, star anise and peppercorns in cheesecloth; tie it and add bag to the pot
* Bring water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour or until the meat shrinks from the bones
* Skim excess oil from the surface and discard
* Remove spice bag
* Season soup with salt, sugar and dark soy sauce to taste, spoon entire mixture into an attractive clay pot

To serve:-

* Scatter crisp shallot flakes
* Dip ribs into soy sauce with chillies and eat them with steamed rice
* Toss in Chinese cruller slices into the broth and enjoy

Makes about 4 to 6 servings.

Note: If you are lazy like me, you use pre-package Bak Ku Teh in the form of filtered bags in some Asian shops. These filtered bags can save you a lot time as you only need to prepare the broth and pork pieces.