Having a pork trotter (猪手) dish during CNY is one of the many traditions inherited from the past. This is the case because it symbolises great fortune to come. During CNY celebrations, I have always been prudent in my planning.
If you are not familiar with cooking pork trotter, take note that there is a difference between “Pork Hand” (猪手) and “Pork Leg” (猪脚). Pork hand refers to the fronts legs, and is more meaty and thus more suitable for this dish. Pork leg is usually used for soup.
There are many versions of cooking pork trotter. I got this recipe from a CNY cook book. It turned me down initially because of the need to pre-fry the pork trotter. I once tried skipping the deep frying step, and the texture of the pork trotter did not turn out good. It is best to follow all the procedures listed.
Yes, I heard you. There is so much to do during CNY, and cooking this dish certainly too time-consuming during the festive season. No worries dear, you can always prepare this in advance and freeze it till the festive season. Pork dishes generally become more tasty after freezing overnight. I use to prepare it one week before CNY.
~Gong Xi Fa Cai~
Ingredients
- 1 pork trotter (do request the butcher to cut it into pieces)
- 300 gm roasted pork/ 烧肉
- 20 Chinese mushrooms (soak and remove stems)
- 6 slices of ginger
- 8 cloves of garlic (roughly smash)
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp of Shaoxing Wine
- Marinade
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- Seasoning
- Water
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- Pinch of pepper
- Prep time: 40 min
- Cook time: 1 hour 20 min
- Servings: 8
- Difficulty: hard
Directions
1. Blanch the pig trotter pieces with boiling water.
2. Drain and marinade with the light and dark soy sauce for 20 min.
3. Deep fry in hot oil for a while. Remove and blanch with water and set a side. This is to remove the access oil.
4. Stir fry ginger and garlic with 1 tbsp of oil in preheated wok till fragrant. Add in Shaoxing wine, star anise, roasted pork, Chinese mushrooms, pork trotter, the rest of seasoning and enough water to cover the trotter pieces in the wok.
5. After boiling, cover with lid and turn to low heat. Simmer for at least 1 hour. Remove the lid and turn to medium heat and cook till the sauce is thicken. Serve hot.
Tagged: CNY dishes, Hard, Pork
A homemaker who is passionate with image consulting and Japanese culture. This blog is created to share with you my cooking and life experiences
~Happy Browsing~
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