Cheat's bak kut teh

I'm getting really good.. at cheating dinners! (^^)

And this is how you do it.. just make soup.. one that comes with prepacked ingredients! How easy can this get, right? Anybody can make bak kut teh.. with a prepacked mix. All you need to have is meat, garlic, canned mushrooms (optional), soy sauce, dark soy sauce and salt to season (^^). Put everything into boiling water and boil for at least 1-1 1/2 hours. So easy, right?

This is my first time making bkt, and I chose this brand, Mo Sang Kor from Klang. Previously, I bought a cordyceps soup mix of the same brand, which turned out quite well, after I took out the herbal pouch, of course (^^). Anyways it's me.. it's not a problem with the herbs/brand. I just don't take to strong herbal stuff that well. 

So how did the bkt turn out? Absolutely superb! The soup was nicely robust and full of flavor! Just the way piggies and I like it. Oops, did I mention I used only half the ingredients in the pack.. and the usual garlic (less too) instead of black (?) garlic.. and I used slightly less meat than recommended.. Actually, I was afraid that the soup might taste too strong of herbs if I used the full mix. Anyways, this really worked out well.. I have the perfect soup! (^^) And I still have ingredients to make another batch of soup!

 

And to balance the meal, I stir-fried spinach with 3 pips of garlic and seasoned with a bit of salt. I recommend the use of a good quality ceramic non-stick wok or pan (consider Neoflam), so that you don't have to use a lot of oil for stir-fries or cooking.. I really think that's important. Look at how beautiful and green the veggies turned out.. minus the oil (^^). And this, coming from a not-so-good cook..

I really enjoyed today's dinner. A teeny-weeny (??) bit more effort than usual.. but really fantastic result (^^)!

A robustly perfect soup enjoyed by all, baby pig included!