Main Ingredients:
One pork trotter with elbow; 200g peanuts.
Seasonings:
6 slices of ginger; 2 star anises; 2 cloves of garlic; 3 dried red peppers; 1 tablespoon of cooking wine; 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce; 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce; 1/2 piece of yellow sugar; 1 piece of fermented bean curd; 1 tablespoon of fermented bean curd juice; salt to taste.
Taste: Salty and Sweet; Cooking Method: Braising; Time: Several Hours; Difficulty: Moderate.
Detailed Steps for Cooking Soft and Delicious Rice Dish – Braised Pork Trotters with Peanuts
Wash and cut one pork trotter with elbow into pieces. The meat should be evenly distributed with fat and lean meat. This one weighs about 2 pounds and 1 ounce. Heat up a pot of water, add cooking wine and three slices of ginger, and blanch the pork trotters to remove impurities.
In another pot, add water, garlic, ginger slices, dried red peppers, star anises, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes to bring out the flavor of the seasonings.
Add the blanched pork trotters to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Do not heat up the pork trotters with cold water, as this will cause the meat to shrink and affect the taste.
After boiling, add half a piece of yellow sugar (about 5cm long, 1cm thick, much better than white sugar, commonly used in Guangdong), a piece of fermented bean curd, and a tablespoon of fermented bean curd juice (Wangzhihe’s red fermented bean curd, a combination of northern and southern flavors). Bring to a boil again.
Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for an hour. It really needs to be simmered over low heat to taste good. After an hour, add the washed peanuts and continue to simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.
Season with salt to taste. The amount of salt depends on personal preference. Then turn up the heat and reduce the sauce.
