Pork Porridge

Every now and again, I have craving for a really simple yet satisfying bowl of pork porridge. Like a good bowl of chicken soup, rice porridge is one of those comfort food that most Asian families turn  to when we are feeling a little under the weather.

It really is so easy. You could cook porridge with leftover rice or you could cook it from scratch, either way, it takes less than 1 hour from preparation to serving. All you need is a little ginger, shallot and parsley for garnishing.

Pork Porridge Recipe 

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked rice
or
1/2 cup of uncooked rice, soaked in hot water and a few drops of cooking oil for 15 min
50gm pork (minced or sliced)

Pork Marinade:
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cornflour
Few drops of garlic oil (alternatively sesame oil)

Braised Pork Trotter

Braised Pork Trotter

Pork trotters are basically the feet of a pig. Chinese love serving trotters as a dish on its own rather than use it to make stock (We eat anything...). I'm very bias when it comes to choosing the right trotter for braising. I prefer the front trotters rather than the hind ones. I don't know why but meat on the hind seems coarser, less tender even after hours of braising.

Lucky for me, my neighbourhood butcher displays the whole pig and will only cut the sections up when customer request for a part. Now that's what you call fresh meat!

This particular recipe that I am sharing with you, belongs to my Granny. The seasonings are simple but all the flavours are in there ~ salty, sweet, spicy, sour! I personally go for the cucumber slices at the bottom of the dish first because of how they soak up all that lovely sticky braising sauce. Yumyum....

Braised Pork Trotter Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pork trotter, chopped into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 whole garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, sliced
2-3 tomato, sectioned
2-3 dried chilli, soak & remove seed (optional)
1 litre of water

Seasoning:
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
30g rock sugar
Salt & pepper to taste

Garnishing:
Chinese parsley
1 cucumber, sliced


Method:

1. Boil a pot of water and blanch the pork trotter chunks for 2 minutes to remove scum.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp cooking oil in wok. Fry ginger & garlic slices till fragrant and add pork trotter & dried chilli. Add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil. Fry till fragrant.
3. Add water and bring to boil. then turn down to low heat and cover lid for 45 minutes. 
4. Add tomatoess and rock sugar. Cook for another 15-20 until the meat is tender. Lastly add salt & pepper to taste
5. For garnishing, place sliced cucumber on bottom of serving plate. Place pork trotter on top and garnish with parsley.