Homemade Bak Kwa
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Bak Kwa (rougan 肉干) is a Chinese salty-sweet dried meat made in the form of flat thin sheets. Popular snack and a must have for Chinese New Year.
Author: Adapted from Citrus and Candy & MyKitchenSnippets
Serves: about 900g Bak Kwa
Ingredients
- 1kg fatty Meat Mince - either Chicken, Beef or Pork (Fattier mince makes more tender, juicy bak kwa)
- 120g Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
- 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 3 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Rice Wine (Shao Tsing / Chinese rice wine)
- 3 tablespoon Honey
- 15ml Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
- A few drops of Sesame Oil
- Red food colouring - optional (I did not use)
Instructions
- Thorughly combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl or container. Add red food colouring, if you prefer dark red shade. Cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.
- Preheat oven to 100°C. Wash and dry flat baking trays. If you don’t have any, simply turn over your baking trays to use the flat bottom. I use wooden cake boards and wrap with aluminium foil.
- Place mince onto the tray then spread and press down to form a thin sheet over the surface of the tray to a thickness of 3-5mm. You can either use wet fingers/spoon to manually press it or you could lay a sheet of plastic or baking paper over it and roll it thin with a rolling pin. Try to keep the edges as straight as you can so you can cut into neat squares.
- Place the trays in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the meat has dried out - the surface is dry to the touch, most of the liquid has evaporated and is holding together without breaking (It's fine to be a little moist underneath the sheet). Continue pressing and drying out the remainder of pork with the rest of your trays.
- Cut the dried meat sheet into squares with a kitchen scissors.
- Heat up your charcoal bbq, grill or broiler and grill each square until darkened and caramelised. It’s totally ok to have the tiniest hint of charring but keep your eyes on them because they burn quickly and easily.
- These Bak Kwa does not have preservatives, so it's better to keep them in an airtight container in the fridge with sheets of greaseproof baking paper between each slice of Bak Kwa. When needed, reheat Bak Kwa in grill or microwave.
Notes
* Oven toaster can be used in place of the grill.
* You can also store and freeze the bak kwa after you have dried it out in the oven. Once cooled, place sheets of greaseproof baking paper between each slice of pork. Wrap very well with clingwrap and place in a container to freeze. When ready to use, defrost in refrigerator and grill as normal.
* You can also store and freeze the bak kwa after you have dried it out in the oven. Once cooled, place sheets of greaseproof baking paper between each slice of pork. Wrap very well with clingwrap and place in a container to freeze. When ready to use, defrost in refrigerator and grill as normal.
Recipe by at https://justasdelish.com/homemade-bak-kwa-dried-meat/