Something savoury



Almost every CNY my mum would cook her signature kiam chai ark (salted mustard duck soup).  It is one of my dad's favourite dishes beside the Lo Ark (braised duck) and ngoh hiang.  And many dad's friends who tasted her kiam chai ark also commented on its flavourish soup and tender duck meat.  Funny thing is I never fancy the kiam chai ark.  I prefer my duck roasted or braised, but not in soup. So all those years I never taste my mum's kiam chai ark. 

 

This year without fail, my mum cooked her kiam chai ark for family reunion dinner on Chinese New Year Eve and we went back for the dinner.  Hubby and I have been married for 9 years but he never has the chance to taste her kiam chai ark till this year.  Every years we celebrated CNY outside Kuching.

 

Hubby praised my mum's kiam chai ark and ate many bowls of the soup.  You can say that he falls in love with this soupy dish from that day onwards. 

 

Early this week while clearing my fridge, I found that I still have some pork ribs and salted mustard.  Don't want to waste the salted mustard, I thought of my mum's kiam chai ark, but I used pork ribs instead.  My mum's kiam chai ark does not have tomatoes in it, but I am thinking of something sourish, so I went to market and get a tomato to go with my salted mustard pork rib soup.

 

So here is my version of Kiam Chai Bak Kut soup. 



 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 rack of pork ribs, chopped into bite size, washed and blanched
Salted mustard (I used the head since the leaves have been used up), chopped into smaller pieces
1 tomato, washed and sliced
1 garlic clove
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1/4 tsp Salt or to taste
Dashes of pepper, or to taste (optional)


Methods:

1. Soak the chopped mustard in a bowl of water for 10 minutes to reduce the saltiness.
2. Fill a pot of water, enough to cover all the ingredients.  Heat up the pot.  Once the water is boiled, throw in the blanched pork ribs, salted mustard, tomato, garlic and ginger.  Let it simmer for 1 hour.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir the soup and off the flame.