This dish is normally served during a woman's one-month confinement period after giving birth. I love the sweet and tangy black vinegar sauce, the chewiness of the pig trotters, the nicely browned eggs and bemoan the fact that I could only get a taste when a friend gives birth, which is getting less frequent with my circle of friends getting older like me :).
Therefore I decided to take fate into my own hands and make this dish myself. Turns out it was so easy to make! Now I make it whenever my stomach desires. And guess who is the biggest fan of this dish in my family? My American-born teenager son! He loves it so much he spoons the sauce over his rice - even I couldn't do that. I just spoon the sauce over the eggs.
Anyway, I am so happy I can make this dish and it's so easy to make, and I'm so happy to be able to share this with any pig trotter soulmates out there!
Recipe:One 24-oz bottle of Chinese sweet vinegar (天丁甜醋)
This available in Asian stores in the soy sauce and vinegar section. Unfortunately, there are many brands with varying flavors but the more expensive ones seem to taste better.
2 lbs of pig trotters
1 inch size ginger, sliced (for confinement, you would use young ginger and add a whole lot more!)
One dozen hard boiled eggs, shelled.
Directions:
Tip: An important tip I learned from my mother-in-law is that one should always parboil pork to get rid of the nasty smell. So just boil a small pot of water, put in a few pieces of pig trotter at a time, just as it comes to a boil again, remove the pork and repeat for the other pieces. You will see the water turning murky and smell pretty bad, but now your pork will taste so much better for getting rid of all that gunk.
Put the parboiled pig trotters and ginger in a pot and pour in the bottle of sweet vinegar. Let it simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours until pork is almost tender. (Optional: Adjust taste with a little more plain black Zhe Jiang vinegar, soy sauce, or sugar as desired.) Put in the hard boiled eggs and cook additional 15 min until pork is tender.