Stewed pork ribs with taucheo (fermented bean paste) was one of my mother’s recipes, one that I am fortunate to learn. It brought back a lot of sweet memories as I was preparing it today. It was my father’s favorite dish–one that garnered special attention as my mother would spend hours slowly stewing the pork ribs until the meat falls off the bones. As humble as it looks, Nyonya stewed pork ribs is a very delicious dish, one that would certainly stimulate your appetite with its tangy and savory taste.
I made this very dish for my parents once. My mother instructed me in the kitchen and taught me the step-by-step, and my father gave me his thumbs up when I served it to him. He told me it was “ho chiak” (delicious)…
Nyonya loves pork and there are many dishes that are made of pork, and this stewed pork ribs dish is one of them. One of the very common ingredients used by Penang Nyonya is bean paste or taucheo; it’s an ingredient that I can’t do without.
In Penang hokkien dialect, we refer “stewing” as “khong,” so locally, stewed pork ribs is called “Khong Bak Kut” (Bak Kut means pork ribs). There are other flavorful and mouthwatering stew dishes such as tau eu bak (pork with soy sauce), khong assam, etc, which I plan to share with you over time.
This stewed pork ribs is best served with steamed rice and eat with sambal belacan. A Nyonya meal is incomplete without sambal belacan.
450g pork spare ribs
100g shallots (skin peeled)
100g fresh red chilies (seeded and sliced lengthwise)
4 cups water
3 tbsp taucheo/bean paste (smashed with a mortar and pestle)
1 tbsp tamarind pulp (soaked in 1/4 cup water, extract the juice)
1 1/2 tsp sugar (or to taste)
Salt to taste
Method:
- Heat up a stew pot with 4 cups of water and bring it to boil.
- Add shallots, chilies, and pork ribs into the water.
- Add taucheo (bean paste) and bring it to boil.
- Lower heat to medium or low and cover with a lid and slowly stew the ribs for 1 hour or so, or until the meat becomes really tender.
- Add tamarind juice, sugar, and salt to taste.
- If it’s not sour enough, add more water to the tamarind pulp and extract more juice.
Cook’s Note:
Nyonya stewed pork ribs should taste salty (from the bean paste), sour (from the tamarind juice), and sweet (from the sweet taste of pork ribs and shallots). It should also taste a little spicy from the red chilies. The taste develops overnight and it’s even better the next day.
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi
Thanks for launching Nyonya Food. I have been an avid reader of Rasa Malaysia since last year. I’ll definitely try this out. Happy cooking!
Vivian – thanks for your support! Hope to see you more here. :)
Congratulations on the new website! Everything looks great and the food and recipes sounds absolutely delicious! Looking forward to discovering more about Nyonya cuisine :)
Joey – yes, stay with me here on Nyonya Food and you can learn more about it. :)
Congrats on your new site! have a craving for nyonya food after watching a few eps of little nyonya. I cooked ayam sioh once and loved it! I have some tamarind concentrate left and I think I will give this a go. How much tamarind concentrate do you think I should use? Don’t think I can get tamarind pulp here.
Hey Pigpigscorner – I am not sure how much tamarind concentrate you should use so I would start with 1 teaspoon and add more to it to taste. Good luck!
This is delicious… also my mom’s specialty.. something that I haven’t had for a long long time!!
Leemei – I think this is more of a Peranakan recipe than Nyonya recipe, but anyway, it’s so good! You should try to make it.
I love the sound of this dish, I cook with tamarind but not nearly enough, as I love what it does to a dish. Thanks for reminding me.
Oyster Culture – tamarind is awesome. I love it so much and it opens up my appetite. :)
When i first saw the picture i thought it was Bak ku teh (wrong spelling). I’m sure i would love this. The pork rib broth looks so flavorful. Mmmmm.. I’m in nyonya heaven.
Zen – this does look s a little like Bak Kut Teh, but it tastes very different.
I LOVE YOUR BLOG. I love the way you take pictures, the way you write and the way you celebrate your heritage. I am from the Philippines and one day I hope to be able to come up with something like this to celebrate Philippine cuisine.
Thank you for inspiring!
Trissa – I can’t wait to read your Filipino food blog. I need to learn more about it. :)
Nyonya…almost sounds like Narnia. Wish you have a picture of taucheo…I assume this is not tausi which is black beans since I don’t see anything black in there. Do you have picture of the ingeredient?
It’s funny, we say ho chiak too in my Cantonese tongue for delicous!
Veron – Narnia, you are right, it sounds quite similar.
Congrats on the site Bee. I’m sure it will be as, if not more than, successful as Rasa Malaysia.
But one note – bak kut really means ‘meat bone’. I’ve had this discussion (argument, possibly) with many Malaysians, over bak kut teh. Of course, for most Chinese, ‘meat’ pretty much equals ‘pork’. But if we’re talking a literal translation of the Chinese characters it’s ‘meat bone’.
Looking forward to more recipes and insights into Nyonya cuisine and culture.
Robyn – thanks for the sweet note! You are right about bak kut, in Chinese’s mind, bak = pork. For some other meat, we will specifically call out it’s cow meat (beef) or chicken meat. I have never thought about it the way you did, it’s interesting! :)
My grandma used to make a similar dish to this. It’s a dish consisting of braised pig’s trotters with dried chillis, fresh red and green chillis and assam. But sadly, my grandma has passed away recently before she can teach me the recipe. Have you tried this assam ju kiok dish before? If so, can u feature this on your website? I wonder if it’s a nonya recipe too cos my grandma came from Malacca.
Alla – yes, I know the dish you talked about. It’s basically the variation of this recipe, but with pig’s trotters. It’s also more sour than this dish, and yes, it uses dried chilies, too. I will get to it one day, but for now, you can try this recipe, and I am sure you will love it. :)
Fuuuyyoooh……~!!!… Sedap!… I miss Nyonya food so much…. miss the smell of the kitchen and eating.. Will definitely need to try this recipe! I love your blog entries and recipes, both here and at RM. Thank you for keeping this Penang tradition alive.. I wished I had more time to learn cooking from my grandma and older folks in the family back in Penang, but at least now I have your blog to go to.. Thank you very much! I just made stir-fry cincaluk with pork.. It’s heavenly!
Stir-fry cincaluk with pork is awesome! Love it.
Looks fantastic! The sight of it is enough to make me go weak coz I love taucheo too. If I have this dish in front of me now, I think I will gobble it all up, lol!
congratulation for your new website!! so lucky we have another good website to view :) very nice pic( good menu) i can try tmrow. quick questions, do we need to pre-cook the spare ribs? do we need to heat up the oil and cook the ingredience then add hot water later… ? what do u think? thank you!!
hello!!!
I am australian / philipino……but love all types of asian cuisine. This website is YUMMO!!!! I am now going to attempt malaysian cooking now, yuor recipes are simple and look delicious!!!!
Anita – thanks and happy cooking.
Hey
This dish looks delicious and it also reminds me of ’steam chinchalok with pork’
Great pictures and recipes
Do you have the recipe of ‘Udang masak Nanas’? I miss my dad’s cooking, thank you.
Hi I am of filipino descent been in u.s. for 45 years.i visited singapore back in 1967when i was in the u.s. navy.had the chance to eat at one of those street carts foods and the one i remembered the most is the oyster omelet.i don’t see any recipe for that.hoping someday your print the recipe.by the way there is no malaysian restaurant in San diego,ca.
I see. Oyster omelet is not a Nyonya Food but more like a street food. I might attempt to make it on my other blog at http://rasamalaysia.com someday.
I cooked this dish tonight but will only serve it tomorrow to let the taste develop overnight. It’s sour, sweet and spicy, not salty enough. Will have to try your preferred brand of taucheo next time. There was a lot of liquid left, do we serve it with all the liquid or just some like in your photo?
Yes, different brands of taucheo tastes different, so you have to modify the recipe. If it’s too liquidy, it means you haven’t simmered it enough. The liquid should reduce to a thicker consistency.