Red Braised Pork Trotters

Ingredients

• Pork trotters
• Bay leaf
• Ginger
• Scallion
• Dark soy sauce
• Cassia bark
• Rock sugar (Ice candy)
• Cooking wine
• Light soy sauce
• Salt
• Star anise
• Edible oil

Steps

1. ### Start Cooking
2. Place the pork trotters, chopped by a passionate vendor, into a pot with cold water. Add 20 ml cooking wine, ginger, and spring onions. Boil for 15 minutes to remove any bloody taste.
3. Heat a wok or pan with cold oil, then pour in 30 ml edible oil. Add 7-8 pieces of rock sugar. Turn the heat to low and simmer until the sugar turns into a color syrup. While simmering, crush the sugar cubes with a spatula for about 2 minutes.
4. Once the sugar color is ready, add the blanched pork trotters. Keep the heat on low and stir-fry the trotters until both sides turn slightly golden.
5. Add 2 bay leaves, 1 piece of cassia bark, 4 star anises, 20 ml light soy sauce, 20 ml dark soy sauce, 10 ml cooking wine, 3 slices of ginger, and 8 g salt. Turn the heat to medium and continue stir-frying for 1 minute.
6. Add boiling or cold water until the liquid covers the trotters. Cover the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, then turn off the heat.
7. Transfer all ingredients from the pot into a pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes (If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can simmer it over low heat in a regular pot).
8. After 15 minutes, pour the pressure cooker ingredients back into the wok. Bring to high heat to reduce the sauce. At this point, taste the broth with chopsticks; if it's too light, add 2-3 g salt.
9. The time for high-heat thickening depends on the water amount remaining in the wok; usually 30 seconds is sufficient. Leaving a little thicker broth has no downside, and the braised trotter soup is delicious over rice as well.