Calling all health conscious Ba Kwa lovers, I feel that I have conquered a whole new frontier with this easy Homemade Ba Kwa. The Sugar Crumble household love our Ba Kwa and come every Lunar New Year, we buy them by the kilos. This year, my resolution is to have a healthier lifestyle and I thought where better to start than with my fave Chinese New Year (CNY) snack.

This Homemade Ba Kwa, (recipe courtesy of Winnie, a dear sister), is yummy, healthy (cause I know exactly what goes in it) and most importantly simple to do. I made both minced and sliced meat Ba Kwa. It wasn’t planned that way but I could not resist a Sliced Meat Ba Kwa Challenge! And it was well worth it. Read about it below.

Once you know the method, you can change up the seasoning and make the Ba Kwa anyway you like, more umami, less sweetness, more chow tar-ness aka smoky-ness etc … You name it, Sky’s the Limit!!

What is Ba Kwa and why we love it especially during CNY …

Ba Kwa with my fave Tily Tea ♥️

For those who are unfamiliar, Ba Kwa is a Chinese style BBQ-ed pork jerky which is extremely popular, especially in Singapore and Malaysia during the Lunar New Year.

Ba Kwa, a word from Hokkien dialect means dried meat. Unlike western style jerky which is usually dehydrated to remove the moisture in the meat, Chinese style pork jerky is moist and grilled to perfection usually over charcoal.

The Oh-so-auspicious sweet meat!

Traditionally, pork or meat in general, a luxury that not everyone could afford, was specially reserved for the celebration of Lunar New Year where thin slices of sweet marinated meat would be smoked and deliciously bbq-ed over charcoal.

The sweet tasting Ba Kwa in its deep burgundy red is considered an auspicious gift and symbolizes sweet days ahead, welcoming good luck and prosperity in the new year. And this Chinese tradition has happily continued till today.

My Sliced Ba Kwa Challenge …

Healthy Sliced Chicken Ba Kwa & Fatty Spicy Mutton Ba Kwa!

So ever since I made Ba Kwa (from mince), I’ve been challenged by my family to make sliced meat Ba Kwa.

My initial reaction? 🙄 Hello, I’m a home baker NOT Ba Kwa rain maker….

My Minced Chicken Ba Kwa … can I make it from sliced chicken?

But after a while, I got curious and wondered if it can be done. My sliced Ba Kwa challenge has taught me that it can definitely be done. It’s just as simple. And if you like thick Ba Kwa with more chew, the texture of Sliced Ba Kwa win hands down.

It’s chewy yet still tender. Fatty, sweet, savoury, spicy, smoky and much more. One word sums it up – delicious!

Watch my Minced Ba Kwa and Sliced Meat Ba Kwa recipe tutorials and be inspired to make your own!

The Sugar Crumble made at least 5 kg of Ba Kwa this Lunar New Year and feels thoroughly accomplished. What a great recipe – Thank you Winnie! 😊

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here! Thank you 😊

And if you like this Homemade Ba Kwa, you may also enjoy my other Chinese New Year recipes

• How to make your own Lohei (捞起）
• CNY Blessings Carrot Cake
• Easy Florentines, our favourite Chinese New Year Snack
• My MIL’s Yummy Pineapple Tarts
• Pistachio Matcha Pineapple Tarts
• Grandpa’s Hainanese Mutton Soup (阿公的羊肉汤）
• Kaffir Lime Spiced Nuts (柠檬甜香坚果)
• Laksa Cookie

What to watch out for …

Tip#1 – Type of meat

Minced or sliced? Well, actually both work. I have made this recipe using pork, chicken and mutton. The mutton was the most fatty, pork was 20% fat, whereas chicken was completely lean. Beef or even fish would work too.

The advantage of using mince is that one can choose the choice fresh cut of meat (more fatty or more lean etc.) and adjust the level of mince in the food processor as preferred. Ba Kwa made from mince also has a softer chew and can be rolled out more finely for those who like thin Ba Kwa.

Using fresh mince, from belly pork

I used frozen chicken and mutton shabu slices (easily available in most supermarkets) to make the Sliced Meat Ba Kwa. Clearly, I could not choose a preferred fresh cut of meat as it would be quite impossible to shabu slice them at home.

Defrosted chicken shabu slices – 0% fat

Notwithstanding, Sliced Meat Ba Kwa tend to be thicker slices as the meat fibre remains quite intact and IMHO has a more superior chew and texture, which adds to the overall flavour.

Whatever the preference, both mince and sliced meat can be made into equally mouthwatering and delicious Ba Kwa.

Tip#2 – Seasoning

The beauty of Homemade Ba Kwa is you can season up anyway you want. I have a more salty palate so I switched down the sweet and upped the umami. But Hubs and the kids like it sweet, so I upped the🍯 for my honeys 😄 in a different batch.

Once seasoned, leave for at least 4 hours or overnight so that the flavour of the meat can be intensified.

Mutton slices with老干妈 black bean chilli

This household likes mutton and hence I also made a spicy mutton version, seasoned with my fave LaoGanMa (老干妈) black bean chilli. It turned out to be my favorite. The fat and spiciness of the mutton Ba Kwa was divine – perfectly succulent and tasty!

Be bold and experiment with the type of meat and seasoning until you find the Ba Kwa taste you absolutely love. Like I said, once you know the method, Sky’s the limit 😊

Tip#3 – Make Ahead

The Ba Kwa sheets can be baked and made ahead before the actual bbq-ing. I usually bake and dry out the Ba Kwa sheets first. Once cut into the desired squares, they store well airtight and chilled for 7-10 days. As desired, glaze and grill to the level of char-ness and enjoy fresh BBQ-ed Ba Kwa at any time.

Make ahead & bbq them fresh! 

Tip#4 – Storage

For freshly bbq-ed Ba Kwa, it is best to consume within 7 days. The remaining Ba Kwa can be kept chilled in the fridge for ~3-4 weeks. To consume, I always like to put the Ba Kwa in a hot oven for a couple of minutes. The heat melts the lard in the meat and the Ba Kwa becomes amazingly moist again and so good.

Ba Kwa with whiskey … any takers? 😊

Whenever everyone talks about portion control during CNY, I always remember this incident.

In the words of Beautiful (Daughter No. 2) when she was just three. Eyes widening and in hushed tones, she pointed at her little rotund tummy during bath-time that Chinese New Year and whispered “I think I have 100 pieces of Ba Kwa inside…” then she broke into the widest, happiest and cutest smile! That’s deliciously failed portion control for this Sugar Crumble Mama 😅 !

Can you really have portion control??!

Did you make this? I would love to know how it turned out. Please leave me a review or tag me on Instagram or FB @thesugarcrumble.com

Thank you!

Print Recipe

Homemade Ba Kwa

This Homemade Ba Kwa is yummy, healthy (cause I know exactly what goes in it!) and most importantly, simple to do. Once you know the method, you can change up the seasoning anyway you like ... more umami, less sweetness, more chow tar-ness etc. - You name it, Sky’s the limit!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Resting Time4 hours hrs

Total Time5 hours hrs

Servings: 800 g

Author: Kai

Ingredients

PORK BA KWA

• 500 g belly pork (五花肉 - cubed and minced to your preferred texture)
• 6 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese Hua Tiao wine (花雕酒)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce

Glaze for BBQ (Pork Ba Kwa)

• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp water

SPICY MUTTON BA KWA

• 800 g mutton shabu slices
• 3 tbsp raw sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 2 tbsp LaoGanMa (老干妈 black bean chilli sauce)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

Glaze for BBQ (Mutton Ba Kwa)

• 1 tbsp LaoGanMa (老干妈 black bean chilli sauce)
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp water

CHICKEN BA KWA

• 800 g chicken shabu slices
• 9 tbsp raw sugar
• 4 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp miso paste
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 1 tsp Chin Kiang black vinegar

Glaze for BBQ (Chicken Ba Kwa)

• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/2 tbsp honey

Instructions

Marinate

• Marinate the meat and let rest for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• For minced Ba Kwa, grind the marinated meat in the food processor to your preferred texture, until the mince and marinade form a nicely blended sticky paste.
• Once the meat is rested, it’s ready for rolling out. If there is any residual liquid after resting, discard before rolling out.

Making Ba Kwa sheets

• Cut a piece of parchment paper double the size of the baking tray and fold it into half.
• Place the meat between the 2 halves of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the meat evenly into Ba Kwa sheets (1.5 - 3 mm thickness depending on your preference) to ~ the size of the baking tray.
• As sliced meat tends to be more chunky, if necessary, use the rolling pin to gently hammer and flatten out the meat in the parchment before rolling out evenly. (Watch the recipe tutorials @1.48min and @2.22min to see how it’s done)
• Place hands on the parchment paper to gauge the thickness of the Ba Kwa sheets and use fingers or the rolling pin to smoothen out any further unevenness.
• Pre-heat the oven to 160C. Once the Ba Kwa sheets are nicely rolled out, cut away the excess parchment and bake @160C at the lowest rack for 20 minutes to dry out the Ba Kwa.
• Once baked, cut the Ba Kwa sheets into squares and it’s ready to be grilled. If there is any excess liquid after baking, wipe it away with a kitchen towel.

BBQ

• Prepare the glaze. Switch up the oven to between 200 - 220C, glaze the Ba Kwa exuberantly and grill at the top rack for ~ 5 - 10 minutes. Flip constantly and glaze each side of the Ba Kwa generously until the desired char is achieved.
• Once the Ba Kwa is nicely grilled, remove from oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes. When it is slightly cooled, the freshly bbq-ed Ba Kwa is ready to eat. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here! Thank you 😊

 

Tip#1 - Type of meat

Minced or sliced? Well, actually both work.

I have made this recipe using pork, chicken and mutton. The mutton was the most fatty, pork was 20% fat, whereas chicken was completely lean. Beef or even fish would work too.

The advantage of using mince is that one can choose the choice fresh cut of meat (more fatty or more lean etc.) and adjust the level of mince in the food processor as preferred. Ba Kwa made from mince also has a softer chew and can be rolled out more finely for those who like thin Ba Kwa

I used frozen chicken and mutton shabu slices (easily available in most supermarkets) to make the Sliced Meat Ba Kwa. Clearly, I could not choose a preferred fresh cut of meat as it would be quite impossible to shabu slice them at home.

Notwithstanding, Sliced Meat Ba Kwa tend to be thicker slices as the meat fibre remains quite intact and IMHO has a more superior chew and texture, which adds to the overall flavour.

Whatever the preference, both mince and sliced meat can be made into equally mouthwatering and delicious Ba Kwa.

 

Tip#2 - Seasoning

The beauty of Homemade Ba Kwa is you can season up anyway you want.

I have a more salty palate so I switched down the sweet and upped the umami. But Hubs and the kids like it sweet, so I upped the 🍯  for my honeys 😄  in a different batch.

Once seasoned, leave for at least 4 hours or overnight so that the flavour of the meat can be intensified.This household likes mutton and hence I also made a spicy mutton version, using my fave LaoGanMa ((老干妈) black bean chilli. It turned out to be my favourite. The fat and spiciness of the mutton Ba Kwa was divine - perfectly succulent and tasty!

Be bold and experiment with the type of meat and seasoning until you find the Ba Kwa taste you absolutely love. Like I said, once you know the method, Sky’s the Limit 😊

 

Tip#3 - Make Ahead

The Ba Kwa sheets can be baked and made ahead before the actual bbq-ing. I usually bake and dry out the Ba Kwa sheets first. Once cut into the desired squares, they store well airtight and chilled for 7-10 days. As desired, glaze generously and grill to the level of char-ness & enjoy fresh BBQ-ed Ba Kwa any time.

 

Tip#4 - Storage

For freshly bbq-ed Ba Kwa, it is best to consume within 7 days. The remaining Ba Kwa can be kept chilled in the fridge for ~3-4 weeks. To consume, I always like to put the Ba Kwa in a hot oven for a couple of minutes. The heat melts the lard in the meat and the Ba Kwa becomes amazingly moist again and so good.

Watch my Sliced Ba Kwa recipe tutorial below!