pig trotters

Braised Pork Trotters

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Braised Pork Trotters

My favourite pork trotters in soya sauce. Finally found a recipe that I think works, but decided to cook it the way that I like to. Sorry the photo doesn’t do the dish justice. But I wanted to show that I took a short cut when preparing this dish.

In a nutshell, everything was thrown into the pot without marination. Reason is because this is a braised dish. Braising means you got to cook it for a reasonably amount of time and that means load everything essential into the pot and let the heat melt the gelatinous fat and bond everyone together.

In the end, it was a very nicely cooked pork trotters. Done the Ho Sim Lang way. It’s so easily done, anyone can do it also.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole foreleg of Pork (i’m sure you know I meant Pig)
5-6 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce (more if you like)
2 tbsp of Light Soya Sauce
2 tbsp of Oyster Sauce
5cm length of Cinnamon Stick
2 pcs Star Anise
5 pcs Cloves
2 tbsp Castor Sugar
2 tbsp Corn Flour
5 pcs of Dried Shitake Mushrooms
Half a bowl of Hakka Rice Wine
Water (enough to cover the meats)

Method

1. Place the foreleg into the pot. Drop the cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves in. Add the dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine in. Add in hot boiling water and make sure the water cover the meats. Boil until water is bubbling. Do a taste test for saltiness. Meanwhile soak the Shitake mushrooms in hot water. Once soaked, cut off the stems and slice and continue soaking.

2. This is the part that is tricky. You want to taste the correct taste before you let the heat take over. If it is not salty enough, add more dark soya sauce. If it is not sweet enough add more castor sugar. The reason why this is crucial is because you are allowing the saltiness of the broth to braise the meats. So it has to be reasonably salty but not too salty. After your taste test is done, mix in the corn flour (mix with some water first) mixture. Add the soaked mushrooms.

3. Cover the lid. Turn the heat to low and go read a book. After about one hour and thirty minutes. It should be nicely done.

Bon Appetit!

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Braised Pork Trotters

Pork Trotters in Black Sweet Vinegar

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Pork Trotters in Black Sweet Vinegar

I found a bottle of black sweet vinegar in my cupboard and thought – better quickly use or else spoy. So I decided to make Pork Trotters in Black Sweet Vinegar. Nice bo? Well nice or not, we will know after I cook it.

Incidentally if you are a mother-to-be without a confinement nanny, you may wish to follow this recipe and cook for yourself. If you can’t cook, ask your husband to cook. If he can’t cook, then too bad. But this recipe is so easy, anyone can cook. So no excuse if your husband cannot cook. Just follow only.

If you are a traditional mother-in-law-to-be and you don’t know this Cantonese delicacy, dont be ashamed. I also not Cantonese. I just see what works and if it works, then we all learn together. Sure nice one. However, if you want to be strict about it, then maybe this recipe might not work the magic for you. But if you wanna make it for dinner (like what I am doing) then can try-and-see.

Ready? Let’s try it.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 Kg Pork Trotters (pork hand)
4 large Eggs (hard boil)
100 grams Ginger
100 grams Rock Sugar
5 tbsp Sesame Seed Oil
1 bottle of Chan Kong Thye Black Sweet Rice Vinegar

Method

1. Blanch the pork trotters to remove scum. Then discard water. Pour sesame seed oil in wok and fry ginger (rough sliced) until fragrant. Add blanched pork trotters to fry until seared.

2. Boil the eggs until they become hard boiled eggs. Once everybody is ready, dump them all into a large pot and add the entire bottle of black sweet rice vinegar and 1 bottle of water (use the same bottle). Add rock sugar. Do a basic taste test. If nice then sure nice one.

3. Boil at high heat until bubbling, then reduce heat to allow it to simmer. You generally want to reduce the amount of liquid by about half. This will thicken the sauce and at the same time allow the fatty parts to gelatinized (is that a word?!) and your pork trotters will be absolutely fabulous.

Bon Appetit!

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Blanched Pork Trotters

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Rough Sliced Ginger

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Stir Fry Pork Trotters and Ginger in Sesame Seed Oil