The Recipe
Makes: 200g
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Bak Kwa has become a popular food given and eaten throughout the year but its popularity surges around Chinese New Year.
The Spring Festival preparations and parties are in full swing! Growing up in Australia, Christmas and the Gregorian New Year was the holiday period for us. After being here in Singapore for quite a while now, it is the Chinese New Year that is the most significant time of the year. Christmas and New Year decorations are quickly dismissed and replaced by colourful lantern lined sidewalks, the streets of Chinatown become teeming with food vendors and buyers and wonderful splashes of red and gold banners and decorations are dotted throughout the city.
Chinese New Year dates back to almost 4,000 years ago and has morphed into a time for praying or worshipping gods and ancestors by giving food as symbols of luck and prosperity, lighting firecrackers and adorning streets and buildings with red decorations to ward off monsters and a time to exchange gifts of red, yellow or gold - always in even numbers and ALWAYS giving and accepting with two hands.
Bak Kwa, also known as Rougan (Hokkien) is basically a type of jerky made of pork. Originating in the Fujian province of China, it was a way of preserving meat that was a luxury once upon a time. The pork was marinated in spices and sliced thinly then air dried before being cooked. Bak Kwa means ‘dried meat’ and being red, has become part of the Chinese New Year tradition symbolizing good luck.
Credit: Peng Guan Bak Kwa
Bak Kwa in Singapore can use both sliced or fatty minced pork and after air drying, the meat is cooked over charcoal imparting a smokey flavour to the final product. A sweet and savoury treat that now comes in many variations using pineapple or fish and different grades of pork. This bak kwa jam is a combination of salty, sweet and sour and can be slathered on toast, mixed through pasta or works as an accompaniment to a good cheeseboard. Ingredients may vary so season with salt, sugar or pepper at the end depending on how sweet or savoury you want the final product.
INGREDIENTS
300g good bak kwa
500g brown onions
10g finely chopped garlic
50g apple cider vinegar
10g instant coffee
300-400mls vegetable stock
2tsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp brown sugar
1.5 tsp ground white pepper
1.5 tsp smoked salt (optional)
METHOD
Finely slice onions and bak kwa In a medium heavy saucepan, cook the sliced onions until fragrant and slightly browned.
Add in the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Throw in the sliced bak kwa and mix through before adding in tomato paste, peppers, sugar, coffee and vinegar.
Add in about 200mls of stock, mix and allow to reduce.
Keep topping up with the stock and reducing until the bak kwa is soft and has combined together with the onions.
Season with smoked salt and extra pepper according to taste.
Allow to cool before storing in a clear glass jar in the fridge.
