Last week whilst at the Emporium (that’s the NT Oriental Emporium to non-Darwinites), I stumbled upon this box of premixed bak kut teh spice/sauce. Cool I thought, I don’t need to go on another holiday to try it out, I’ll just make it myself! The instructions on the back of the box are easy to follow and oddly precise (have a look and you’ll see what I mean), the only additional thing you need to buy are the pork ribs and optionally some pepper. I also chucked in a few extra garlic bulbs because the ones that are in the packet don’t exactly look like the ones on the front of it. And don’t feel ashamed about using a box of ingredients, because apparently lots of people in the know use the ready made stuff as the herbs and spices used can be hard to source.

The verdict? Well I’m no expert but I loved it. The meat came out very tender and kept its natural flavour, the soup was clear and delicate with a bit of peppery heat. It’s not so fatty either as you can scoop out any of the bad stuff off the top of the stock as its simmering. Definitely not your Aussie style sticky smokey BBQ ribs, but a healthy traditional Asian style alternative. It might be an acquired taste for those of western palates.

My resident expert partner who grew up eating this stuff liked it too, but commented that it should be saltier as per the version of her home town in Malaysia. She likes her food salty so I translated that to be “You little ripper, it’s awesome and doesn’t need any additional salt!”

I was very temped to finish off the whole pot, but I wisely saved some for dinner tomorrow.

You can buy the “Prima Taste Bak Kut Teh (herb and pepper pork rib soup)” sauce/spice mix from The NT Oriental Emporium on Bagot Road for something like $7-8 dollars. I forgot the exact price.