Homemade Bak Kut Teh with A1 Soup Spices

I had a sachet of A1 Soup Spices tucked away in a kitchen drawer, given to me by Jonathan during my visit to A.K. Koh Enterprise, the makers of A1 products. I had told myself that I would make Bak Kut Teh with it, one day. So, since today is a chilly and rainy day, and I wanted to stay indoors, I decided that today is the right day for homemade Bak Kut Teh.



This is the A1 Soup Spices sachet. A1 Soup Spices is certified Halal and is equally suitable for making herbal soup with chicken.



Tearing open the sachet, a whiff of herbal fragrance escaped through the slit. It smelled like perfume to those who like herbs and was actually quite seductive :) The powdered herbs were held in sachets just like tea bags.



For this post, I followed the instructions on the back of the sachet to the letter. I added soya sauce and oyster sauce as instructed, hence the soup looked like tea. I did not add any MSG. After bringing the water and sachets of spices to boil, the meat was cooked for 30 minutes in medium heat. The aroma from the boiling herbal brew filled the kitchen and quickly spread to the whole house.



The homemade Bak Kut Teh garnished with a little spring onion - ready to serve. These pre-packed soup spices really simplify life a lot.



I like my ribs with a little fat attached. Made with fresh pork ribs, the meat was tender and can be stripped off the bone very easily.

 

The soup was quite good though it was nothing like Sze Hwa or Ah Soon. Still, I am quite happy with the results and how simple it is to make this classic comfort dish even for people who have no cooking experience - I am thinking of Malaysian/ Singaporean students overseas. These pre-packed herbs can really be a life saver :)

 

I am confident that with a little tweaking I can bring the taste closer to the big name Bak Kut Teh shops :) Adding mushrooms and peppercorns would help. The next time I try this, I will skip the soya sauce and oyster sauce, and make the Singaporean style peppery version.

 

 

(Note: I have not affiliation with A.K. Koh Enterprise and did  not recieve any fee for this post or any post in Johor Kaki blog.)

I had a sachet of A1 Soup Spices tucked away in a kitchen drawer, given to me by Jonathan during my visit to A.K. Koh Enterprise, the makers of A1 products. I had told myself that I would make Bak Kut Teh with it, one day. So, since today is a chilly and rainy day, and I wanted to stay indoors, I decided that today is the right day for homemade Bak Kut Teh.



This is the A1 Soup Spices sachet. A1 Soup Spices is certified Halal and is equally suitable for making herbal soup with chicken.



Tearing open the sachet, a whiff of herbal fragrance escaped through the slit. It smelled like perfume to those who like herbs and was actually quite seductive :) The powdered herbs were held in sachets just like tea bags.



For this post, I followed the instructions on the back of the sachet to the letter. I added soya sauce and oyster sauce as instructed, hence the soup looked like tea. I did not add any MSG. After bringing the water and sachets of spices to boil, the meat was cooked for 30 minutes in medium heat. The aroma from the boiling herbal brew filled the kitchen and quickly spread to the whole house.



The homemade Bak Kut Teh garnished with a little spring onion - ready to serve. These pre-packed soup spices really simplify life a lot.



I like my ribs with a little fat attached. Made with fresh pork ribs, the meat was tender and can be stripped off the bone very easily.

 

The soup was quite good though it was nothing like Sze Hwa or Ah Soon. Still, I am quite happy with the results and how simple it is to make this classic comfort dish even for people who have no cooking experience - I am thinking of Malaysian/ Singaporean students overseas. These pre-packed herbs can really be a life saver :)

 

I am confident that with a little tweaking I can bring the taste closer to the big name Bak Kut Teh shops :) Adding mushrooms and peppercorns would help. The next time I try this, I will skip the soya sauce and oyster sauce, and make the Singaporean style peppery version.

 

 

(Note: I have not affiliation with A.K. Koh Enterprise and did  not recieve any fee for this post or any post in Johor Kaki blog.)

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A1 Instant Abalone Noodles by A.K. Koh Enterprise, Senai, Johor

I was chatting online with Johor Kaki reader Jonathan about bak kut teh in Senai when he told me that his company actually makes bak kut teh spices. That got me extremely excited as I wanted to learn about bak kut teh spices from experts. So we arranged to meet at his office, at A.K. Koh Enterprise in Senai. During my visit to A.K. Koh Enterprise, I also met with Jonathan's colleagues Lian Jie and Ms. Kang.



It turned out that besides bak kut teh spices, A.K. Koh Enterprise in Senai also makes a range of different products such as instant herbal soup spices, instant curry sauce, instant noodles, instant coffee bags, ready-to-drink bird's nest soup, canned abalone and many others under the A1 label.

As I was leaving after the meeting, Jonathan handed me a bagful of A.K. Koh products and in it was this pack of A1 Instant Abalone Noodles. That was a week ago - as I was kept indoors today by a thunderstorm, I decided to give the instant abalone noodles a try :)



The instant noodle block removed from the package.



The seasoning powder for making instant soup.



The 3 slices of canned abalone and stock removed from the sachet. The rich aroma of canned abalone escaped into the air when I cut open the sachet. 



I cooked the instant noodles following the instructions on the packet to the letter. For the purpose of this post, I used only what is in the packet - I deliberately did not put in any additional ingredients such as green vegetables, bean sprouts, spring unions, or eggs.

 

In less than 10 minutes, the abalone noodles were ready to serve. The aroma of abalone filled the air as the stock and noodles were boiling in the pot. Lian Jie told me that these are Mexican abalones.



The soup was smooth, has body and a subtle herbal flavour. It also has abalone flavour and aroma.



The noodles were just the right thickness, soft and has a slight al dente bite. I like these noodles.



The 3 thin slices of abalone taste like the usual canned abalone. The slices still have a slight spring in the bite.



A1 instant abalone noodles is quite likable even in this basic, straight out of the pack version. I am sure, it will be even nicer when I add in additional ingredients such as a bit of greens, spring onions, and shallot oil and crackles. A1 instant abalone noodles retail at around RM6 a packet.  

A1 instant abalone noodles are certified Halal.

(Note: I have no affiliation with A.K. Koh Enterprise and receive no fees for this post - actually this applies to all Johor Kaki posts.)

Date: 7 May 2013

I was chatting online with Johor Kaki reader Jonathan about bak kut teh in Senai when he told me that his company actually makes bak kut teh spices. That got me extremely excited as I wanted to learn about bak kut teh spices from experts. So we arranged to meet at his office, at A.K. Koh Enterprise in Senai. During my visit to A.K. Koh Enterprise, I also met with Jonathan's colleagues Lian Jie and Ms. Kang.



It turned out that besides bak kut teh spices, A.K. Koh Enterprise in Senai also makes a range of different products such as instant herbal soup spices, instant curry sauce, instant noodles, instant coffee bags, ready-to-drink bird's nest soup, canned abalone and many others under the A1 label.

As I was leaving after the meeting, Jonathan handed me a bagful of A.K. Koh products and in it was this pack of A1 Instant Abalone Noodles. That was a week ago - as I was kept indoors today by a thunderstorm, I decided to give the instant abalone noodles a try :)



The instant noodle block removed from the package.



The seasoning powder for making instant soup.



The 3 slices of canned abalone and stock removed from the sachet. The rich aroma of canned abalone escaped into the air when I cut open the sachet. 



I cooked the instant noodles following the instructions on the packet to the letter. For the purpose of this post, I used only what is in the packet - I deliberately did not put in any additional ingredients such as green vegetables, bean sprouts, spring unions, or eggs.

 

In less than 10 minutes, the abalone noodles were ready to serve. The aroma of abalone filled the air as the stock and noodles were boiling in the pot. Lian Jie told me that these are Mexican abalones.



The soup was smooth, has body and a subtle herbal flavour. It also has abalone flavour and aroma.



The noodles were just the right thickness, soft and has a slight al dente bite. I like these noodles.



The 3 thin slices of abalone taste like the usual canned abalone. The slices still have a slight spring in the bite.



A1 instant abalone noodles is quite likable even in this basic, straight out of the pack version. I am sure, it will be even nicer when I add in additional ingredients such as a bit of greens, spring onions, and shallot oil and crackles. A1 instant abalone noodles retail at around RM6 a packet.  

A1 instant abalone noodles are certified Halal.

(Note: I have no affiliation with A.K. Koh Enterprise and receive no fees for this post - actually this applies to all Johor Kaki posts.)

Date: 7 May 2013

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Pau Roslan in Kampung Malayu Majidee, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

 

I went tracking down Pau Roslan in Kampung Malayu Majidee on the suggestion of reader Sarahsafri. Pau Roslan's paus were tasty - thank you, Sarahsafri for the introduction :)

We had a nice experience looking for Pau Roslan :) Not wanting to use my GPS as I don't want a flat handphone battery, I usually drive around and use my instincts to locate the eatery.

Finding Pau Roslan turned out to be a little more tricky, as I still could not spot the shop after a couple of turns around Kampung Malayu Majidee. So I stopped at a gerai and asked the friendly people there for directions.

At this point, a nice, little old makcik overheard our conversation and asked in Malay whether we were looking for Pau Roslan. When we replied, yes, she offered to come in our car as her home was not far from Pau Roslan.

We immediately agreed and helped the nice, little old lady and her bags of groceries which she bought at the nearby GIANT supermarket into our car. We had a nice conversation with the every little bit of Malay that I could muster :P

The little old makcik lived across the road from Pau Roslan.

This was only the retail shop as Roslan's paus are made in a factory in Bandar Uda.

The paus in various flavours were sold frozen. They have pau kacang, kaya, ayam, lembu, sate, and kelapa. There were steamed paus too at the shop but we wanted to try the frozen ones to see if this could be another item or convenience food good enough to tapau (bungkus or take away) back to Singapore or Malacca/ KL.

We bought the sate and the lembu (beef) flavours. Considering that these were frozen paus, Roslan's paus were surprising good.

Two things stood out, namely, the skin and the fragrance of the fillings.

 

The skin was thick but nicely soft, fluffy and just slightly sweet. Very good skin for a steamed, frozen pau.

The fillings, both the sate and beef, were made of ground ingredients. It was not possible to see exactly what they were made of - there bits of mashed meat, potatoes and onions. But, in terms of flavour and aroma, they were excellent :)

The spices in the fillings were like perfume that ran up our nose. Roslan's paus were spicy with a slight hot sting on the lips and tongue that fades away very quickly - nice!

I found myself reminding family and friends to pick up some frozen paus from Pau Roslan whenever they are in the Kampung Malayu Majidee/ Larkin area.

Restaurant name: Pau Roslan
Address: 43, Jalan Kenangan, Kampung Malayu Majidee, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/IJ69G
GPS: 1.504288,103.750231
Hours: 8:00am to 5:00pm
Halal

Date visited: 6 Sep 2012

 

I went tracking down Pau Roslan in Kampung Malayu Majidee on the suggestion of reader Sarahsafri. Pau Roslan's paus were tasty - thank you, Sarahsafri for the introduction :)

We had a nice experience looking for Pau Roslan :) Not wanting to use my GPS as I don't want a flat handphone battery, I usually drive around and use my instincts to locate the eatery.

Finding Pau Roslan turned out to be a little more tricky, as I still could not spot the shop after a couple of turns around Kampung Malayu Majidee. So I stopped at a gerai and asked the friendly people there for directions.

At this point, a nice, little old makcik overheard our conversation and asked in Malay whether we were looking for Pau Roslan. When we replied, yes, she offered to come in our car as her home was not far from Pau Roslan.

We immediately agreed and helped the nice, little old lady and her bags of groceries which she bought at the nearby GIANT supermarket into our car. We had a nice conversation with the every little bit of Malay that I could muster :P

The little old makcik lived across the road from Pau Roslan.

This was only the retail shop as Roslan's paus are made in a factory in Bandar Uda.

The paus in various flavours were sold frozen. They have pau kacang, kaya, ayam, lembu, sate, and kelapa. There were steamed paus too at the shop but we wanted to try the frozen ones to see if this could be another item or convenience food good enough to tapau (bungkus or take away) back to Singapore or Malacca/ KL.

We bought the sate and the lembu (beef) flavours. Considering that these were frozen paus, Roslan's paus were surprising good.

Two things stood out, namely, the skin and the fragrance of the fillings.

 

The skin was thick but nicely soft, fluffy and just slightly sweet. Very good skin for a steamed, frozen pau.

The fillings, both the sate and beef, were made of ground ingredients. It was not possible to see exactly what they were made of - there bits of mashed meat, potatoes and onions. But, in terms of flavour and aroma, they were excellent :)

The spices in the fillings were like perfume that ran up our nose. Roslan's paus were spicy with a slight hot sting on the lips and tongue that fades away very quickly - nice!

I found myself reminding family and friends to pick up some frozen paus from Pau Roslan whenever they are in the Kampung Malayu Majidee/ Larkin area.

Restaurant name: Pau Roslan
Address: 43, Jalan Kenangan, Kampung Malayu Majidee, Johor Bahru
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/IJ69G
GPS: 1.504288,103.750231
Hours: 8:00am to 5:00pm
Halal

Date visited: 6 Sep 2012

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