Recipe: Tapyu Bak (or Pork with Dark Soya Sauce)

Well, it's been a couple of years since I drew up a list of dishes to learn from Ma and I've finally started on lessons. The in-laws came over for dinner yesterday and I wanted the food to be home-cooked, but not ang moh-fied...so mummy came to the rescue and in the process I picked up her recipes for Tapyu Bak and Chicken Soup. Am gonna start posting what I learn from now on, so here is the first of the lot - Tapyu Bak, which is pork in dark soya sauce.

Tapyu Bak (or Pork with Dark Soya Sauce)

800 gm – 1kg of lean pork meat, cut into 4-5 cm squares
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ a cinnamon stick
2 star anise
100 – 150 ml of dark soya sauce
250 – 300 ml of water
6 pcs of taupok, cut into half
Pepper to taste
2 – 3 tbsp of sugar
4 hard boiled eggs (optional)

1. In a small pot, bring water to a boil, then add cinnamon stick, star anise, garlic and pork. Simmer for about 10 mins, then add a dash of pepper.
2. Next add the dark soya sauce. Actual amount depends on water level and how opaque you want the stock to be. Simmer for an additional hour before adding sugar, and more garlic if desired.
3. Taste and add more water/soya sauce and/or sugar if necessary, the stock should be salty but not overly so.
4. Finally, add the taupok pieces and/or hard boiled eggs and simmer for another 5 mins before taking off the stove.
   
   Serves 6.