Does anyone love pork leg as much as I do ? LOL. Okies, it’s sinful I know, but that’s if you enjoyed the skin and all. Even though I enjoyed pork leg, but I will always go for the leaner portion of the meat. And the furthest that I will go is probably the tendon as well since that’s where the most collagen stems from.
This is a different twist from the Chinese styled of braised pork leg that I used to attempt which you can view from the recipe here. In the Thai style, the flavour that comes off borne a richer aroma that’s brewed from the extra spices that were used. On top of spices, I added a hinge of lemongrass and also used some pandan leaves to enrich the aroma further whilst stewing.
Ok, I must admit though I used the pressure cooker in cooking this dish which is pretty convenient as the pork tendons gets really tender in no time, but the stewed sauce doesn’t get fully absorbed by the poultry even when the cooking is completed. To resolve this issue, I release the pressure from the cooker and continue with the stewing for an additional 30 minutes with the lid off and added thickening solution to allow the sauce to be further absorbed. In all, it took about an hour of cooking which is still better than using the stove top which would probably take double of that time. So if you are using a stove top, you can skip the step of adding thickening solution as the pork tendons will have the natural absorbent effect of the sauce that were used to cook it.
I never failed to have a love-hate relationship with sinful foods. But when it comes to stewed pork leg, all I can say is… Eat first then think later !! LOL. And if you have any leftovers of the pork leg which I think will be rare, you can always use it to cook with some fried bee hoon the following day !
Grab your pork trotters and all other fresh ingredients from PurelyFresh online to cook up a storm today !
Enjoy !!
- 1.5kg pork trotters
- 2 star anise
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 5 pcs of pandan leaves
- 900ml water
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 tbsp light soya sauce
- 3 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1 tbsp sweet rice vinegar (hon mirin)
- 60g palm sugar
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- dash of 5 spice powder (you can add more if you like the taste)
- 10 pcs whole garlics
- 5 pcs shallots
- 5 stalks of coriander roots
- 1 lemongrass
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp corn flour + 2 tbsp water
Pound the garlics, shallots, coriander roots, lemongrass and black pepper together into a paste. Set aside.
Heat up a pot of water till boiling and blanch the pork trotters in it. Rinse and drain well.
With the pressure cooker on, use the "bake" function for vegetables and stir fried the paste from Step 1 until fragrant.
Add in the blanched pork trotters from Step 2 and stir fried it till the paste coats well all over the pork.
Add in the dark soya sauce first and saute till the pork is all evenly coated and browned with the sauce. Add in the rest of the seasoning sauce ingredients except the fish sauce. Mix well.
Add in the water followed by the star anise and cinnamon. Top it with pandan leaves that has been tied to a knot. Cover the pressure cooker and switch it to "Tendons" mode to start cooking.
After cooking has completed, remove the lid of the pressure cooker. Switch it back to "bake" mode for poultry. (Add in any hard boiled eggs, if using at this point.) Add in the thickening solution and dash of fish sauce and allowed the sauce to continue simmering for another 30 minutes till it is reduced and thickened. Taste and adjust accordingly as desired.
Garnish with coriander and serve with some blanched vegetables, eggs and rice.
2) If stove top is used instead of pressure cooker, the step of adding the thickening solution can be eliminated as the pork tendons have a natural absorbent effect of the seasoning sauce (收汁).
3) Cooking it on stove top needs at least 2 hours or more before the pork trotters are cooked to tenderness.
