Vinegar trotters

I’ve been recently having a craving for all things confinement food, and have been wanting to experiment with cooking vinegar trotters on my own. I looked on the trusty ol’ www, and these are a few recipes I’ve found, that I would love to try soon. This weekend, maybe?

1. http://www.misstamchiak.com/dinner-at-karens-with-vinegar-trotters-recipe/
2. http://annieliciousfood.blogspot.sg/2012/10/mdm-chais-pig-trotter-in-vinegar-with.html
3. http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2011/07/pigs-trotters-in-ginger-and-sweetened.html
4. http://sg.openrice.com/recipe/detail.htm?recipeid=1

All the recipes I’ve found, point to a few similarities:

• They use trotters, of course. But I’ve also learnt from eating my mom’s rendition of this dish that lean pork can be used in the dish as well, for the more health-conscious.
• Most of the recipes recommend the Dog or Bulldog brand, even my mom asked me to go for that brand.
• All recipes use brown or dark brown sugar (molasses, i believe its called).

Sesame Oil Chicken recipe

I love this dish, simply because it brings back childhood memories and is so yummy! Its also a confinement food for mothers who have just given birth, and I guess the dish prepared for confinement would include a heavier hand on the D.O.M, for its nourishing properties.

Having tried another recipe for this before, I felt that the chicken needed to be marinated before cooking, so that the taste is much improved, instead of just stir-fried. I found a new recipe for sesame oil chicken on Mummy, I can cook! and can’t wait to try it out this weekend! The recipe from her blog is as follows:

Mum’s Sesame Oil Chicken

serves 2

Ingredients

2 chicken legs, cut into thighs and drumsticks (you can use whichever parts you like, but they must be bone-in)

1 tbsp ginger juice (peel, smash/grate ginger, squeeze. reserve the ginger.)

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

2 tbsp soy sauce (traditionally brewed and fermented)

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

1 tsp unrefined cane sugar

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Marinate the chicken in the ginger juice, sesame oil and soy sauce, for about 1 hr, or even longer.

2. To a medium hot wok/pot, heat the oil, and add the reserved ginger, fry till aromatic.

3. Add the chicken pieces, drained of their marinade, to brown slightly, about 1 min, then add in the Shaoxing wine, followed by the marinade, and cook for a few more min.

4. Add in the water, cover and let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Serve warm with rice.