Hed Chef recipe: Savour sumptuous herbal braised pig tail
This is a dish for those who can appreciate the tender gumminess of pig tail.
Herbal braised pig tail is one of my favourite classic go-to dishes when I want to eat something sumptuous without too much effort.
If you can get over the seemingly long list of ingredients, the recipe itself is pretty straightforward.
You will be rewarded with a collagen-packed gravy that goes exceedingly well with rice.
To cater to those who may not like eating pig tail, I included a portion of soft bone pork in the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
- 600g pork tail
- 400g soft bone
- 1 tbsp Chinese rose wine
- 1 tbsp five spice powder
- 80g sugar
- 1.8 litres of water
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- ¾ tsp coriander seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ tsp cloves
- 1½ star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 black cardamom
- 1 slice of gan cao (licorice root)
- 24g yuzhu (Solomon's seal)
- 12g dangshen
- 2 red dates
- 5g mandarin orange peel
- 46g spring onion
- 40g ginger, smashed
- 70g blue ginger, smashed
- 25g fresh coriander
- 167g garlic, unpeeled
- 2 dried chillies
- 4 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 3 tbsp light soya sauce
- 3 tsp salt
- 3 pieces of rock sugar
METHOD
1. Rinse the pork and soft bone and place in a deep dish. Add the Chinese rose wine and five spice powder. Mix well and cover the dish with cling wrap. Allow to marinate overnight or at least three hours. Remove the pork from the fridge and allow it to sit on the kitchen counter for 30 minutes before you are ready to cook.
2. In a sturdy pot, heat the 80g of sugar over low heat.
3. Once the sugar caramelises, add the pork and bone. Fry until the meat turns opaque and you do not see any visible blood.
4. Add the water.
5. Add the black and white peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaves, cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, black cardamom, gan cao, yuzhu, dangshen, red dates and mandarin orange peel.
6. Add the spring onion, ginger, blue ginger, fresh coriander, garlic and dried chillies.
7. Cover and bring to a boil.
8. Add the dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, salt and rock sugar.
9. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it to cook in the residual heat for another 30 minutes.
10. To serve, transfer into a claypot, bring to a simmering boil and serve immediately.
FOLLOW HEDY KHOO @HEDCHEFHEDYKHOO ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE CULINARY ADVENTURES
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
