Homemade Bakkwa

Every Chinese New Year, many households serve a dried savoury-sweet meat which is known as rou gan (肉 干) in Mandarin and bakkwa in Hokkien. My family also refers to it as bakpoh. There are many brands that are synonymous with bakkwa in Malaysia, the most well-known would be Oloiya (我来也) and Bee Cheng Hiang (美诊香). Come Chinese New Year, people have been known to queue for hours just to purchase them, even though they don't come in cheap.

Of late, I've seen many bakkwa recipes online, and nope, I haven't made my own. But I bought some homemade ones from my colleague. She made them herself, and sold them for RM77 per kg. I bought half a kilogramme.

Homemade Bakkwa 

These pieces of dried meat are free from msg and any forms of preservatives - not really sweet and not so savoury either. So unfortunately, eating them weren't as satisfying as the glistening, sweet and burnt ones from the shops. And though tender and soft,  the homemade version somewhat lacked that chewy texture that I liked.

And so my half a kilogramme of bakkwa sat in the fridge .... perhaps I could use it for cooking fried rice .... or muffins .... or .........