INTRODUCTION
I always heard of this famous dish but I have never tried before. Therefore, I have decided to take a plunge to prepare this dish such that readers have more choices of pork trotter recipes besides the normal black vinegar and braised pork trotter recipes.
I am unsure and did not have a chance to check the origin of this dish but I believed it is of a Cantonese or Hakka influence. However, I am unable to confirm..
I found that my pork trotters are not “sexy” enough.. Not sexy in the sense that it is not that glossy and there are very little lard being excreted after my cooking.. Well, the pork in Singapore are always very lean and I am not surprise that this is the case. In fact this will suit most of our taste buds requesting for lean meat rather than fatty meat..
I am happy with this first trial. In fact the whole family like this.. It is essentially flavoured by ginger and the fermented bean curd mentioned below. For my girl who do not like pork, I have added lotus roots and peanuts which are also quite standard in this dish even though it is considered as optional. I used the braised sauce for my blanched vegetable and a meal is done.
The main ingredient besides pork hock is as what is mentioned in the name of this dish – fermented bean curd or Hu Ru or Fu Ru (腐乳） or Nam Yue (in Cantonese) or nan ru (南乳）。 This ingredient is totally not new to me.. I have been eating exactly the same type of fermented bean curd since young. We usually served with white porridge or cooked in dishes.. In fact, my late aunt’s daily breakfast when she is alive is just a bowl of white porridge with a square piece of this bean curd..
Per Wikipedia:
“Fermented tofu also called fermented bean curd, sufu, tofu cheese, or preserved tofu is a form of processed, preserved tofu used in East Asian cuisine as a condiment made from soybeans. The ingredients typically are soybeans, salt, rice wine and sesame oil or vinegar, and are sold in jars containing blocks 2- to 4-cm square by 1 to 2 cm thick soaked in brine with select flavourings. Fermented tofu is commonly used as a condiment and is consumed at breakfast to flavour rice, porridge, gruel or congee.Red fermented bean curd (Chinese: 紅腐乳/南乳; pinyin: hóngfǔrǔ/nánrǔ; Wade–Giles: hung2-fu3-ju3/nan2-ju3), incorporates red yeast rice (cultivated with Monascus purpureus) with the brining liquor for a deep-red colour and distinctively thickened flavour and aroma.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd)
WHAT IS REQUIRED
Servings: 4-6 adults
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One pig trotter or front hock of about 1.5 kg
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10 slices of ginger
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2 tablespoons of rock sugar
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6 pieces of fermented bean curd
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3 tablespoons of fermented bean curd red sauce (in the bottle)
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3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
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2 tubes of lotus roots
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50 grams of peanuts
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1/2 cup of Chinese cooking wine
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Pinches of salt
STEPS OF PREPARATION
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Bring a big pot of water to boil. Add the pork trotters and blanch for about 5 minutes until the exterior is cooked. Drained and set aside.
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In another big frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil or lard, pan fried the ginger until fragrant . Add the pork trotter. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
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Add the lotus roots, peanuts, dark soya sauce, fermented bean curd and its sauce, stir fry for another 2-3 minutes until the flavour are incorporated and the colour are consistent.
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Transfer the stir fry pork trotters to the pressure cooker pot, Add the Chinese cooking wine water to at least of the height of the meat. Pressure cook for 15-20 minutes or until your desired texture. If the gravy is too much, you can transfer the gravy to another pan after draining off the meat, cook until your desired quantity and add some starch solution to thicken it.
NOTES
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If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can always braised the pork trotter over the stove. Timing required should be about45 minutes.
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Do not add too much water to the meat as when cooked, meat juices will be secreted.
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If prefer, you can add 1-2 star anises and cloves to enhance the dish flavour. Garlic cloves can be added too.
CONCLUSION
A rather straight forward recipe and I have quite a lot of sauces left. I shall use these sauces to cook a delicious bowl of noodles for tomorrow’s lunch.
Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.
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