Bak Kian

 

   

   

Bak kian is also known as ngoh hiang and lor bak. In English it is simply fried meat rolls. The main ingredient is minced pork. The other ingredients that go into these meat rolls are varied; fish or prawn paste can be added to the minced pork. As for the vegetables, you can add carrots, jicama or water chestnut. Minced onions, shallots and garlic are a must when making the meat rolls. To make them more tasty, you can add coriander and green onions. So it all depends on how simple or elaborate you want your meat rolls to be.  And these are then rolled up in bean curd sheets and fried. They are best served with sliced cucumbers or lettuces. They can be eaten with chili or tomato sauces although I think that it is not necessary as the rolls are savoury enough.

Ingredients:

• 500 g minced pork
• 80 g finely chopped carrot
• 70 g finely chopped onions
• 50 g finely chopped shallots
• 45 g finely chopped coriander, optional
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp 5-spice powder
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 9-10 bean curd sheets cut to the size of 1/2 of an A4 paper
• A small bowl of water
• Cooking oil

Method:

• Add minced pork to a large bowl.

• Add all the other ingredients to it and mix till they are well incorporated.

• Apportion these meat fillings into 9 or 10 portions as we do not want any leftover or insufficient fillings at the end. (Nine portions for a thicker roll and ten for a thinner one.)

• Get ready a small bowl of water for sealing the roll.

• Take a piece of the bean curd sheet and put 1 portion of the filling on top of it.

• Bring each shorter side in.

• Then roll up the bean curd sheet with meat fillings from one end of the longer side to the other.

• Or, you can just roll up the longer side to the other end and just tuck the ends under the roll. (But I think you will get a neater roll with the earlier method.

• Heat up a pan with cooking oil.

• When the oil is hot, put is the rolls side by side.

• When the bottom has turned brown, flip the roll to the other side.

• Once this side has also turned brown, dish it out onto a plate lined with kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.

• Serve.