4/19/2016
I love eating out because cooking is not my thing. During uni days, many of my Malaysian and Singaporean classmates cooked fabulously and so the long-standing arrangement was for me to wash dishes after.
In Bazi, Fire element is represented by 丙 & 丁 the 3rd and 4th elements respectively in the heavenly stems hierarchy; 巳 & 午 in the 6th and 7th element in the earthly branches hierarchy. Generally speaking, people whose day master is the fire element, or have strong fire elements in their charts are passionate and popular among their mates. Always energetic and willing to share their time with others.
Fire melts metal and so metal is the money element for Fire. In 2016 when fire element is over monkey (metal) element, money becomes the focus of the Fire day masters.
But fire has different effect on different day masters, for me .... one night a few months ago when I was enjoying Zaru Soba + Tempura, I heard a voice in my little head (maybe too much sake) "hey, this can be done at home if you go Meidiya and buy this and that!"
In Bazi, Fire element is represented by 丙 & 丁 the 3rd and 4th elements respectively in the heavenly stems hierarchy; 巳 & 午 in the 6th and 7th element in the earthly branches hierarchy. Generally speaking, people whose day master is the fire element, or have strong fire elements in their charts are passionate and popular among their mates. Always energetic and willing to share their time with others.
Fire melts metal and so metal is the money element for Fire. In 2016 when fire element is over monkey (metal) element, money becomes the focus of the Fire day masters.
But fire has different effect on different day masters, for me .... one night a few months ago when I was enjoying Zaru Soba + Tempura, I heard a voice in my little head (maybe too much sake) "hey, this can be done at home if you go Meidiya and buy this and that!"
Seems like the fire element this year has ignited my cooking abilities! I got all fired all!
At first I was conservative, starting with the simple ones which cannot go wrong like Zaru Soba, okonomiyaki, coffee french toast etc. Woohoo! The encouragement was that I managed not to cut myself, burn myself or cause an explosion in the kitchen so far (touch wood)!
Therefore I guess I will go on until my hair catches fire in the kitchen.
Anyway lately the weather was been scorching hot and affected my appetite. So with Auntie Lilian's verbal instructions, I tried out pork trotters in ginger and sweetened vinegar. There are quite a few variations, it will not be screwed up easily and the trick is in the control of fire.
Ingredients:
1) 1 pork hand (Indonesian pig is preferred; left hand or right hand, up to you) - request butcher to chop into pieces
2) 1 old ginger (sliced & then smashed with knife)
3) 2 table spoons of good quality brown sugar
4) 1 to 2 bottles of Chan Kong Thye black sweet rice vinegar (Confident, then buy 1. Kiasu, then buy 2 bottles)
5) Sesame oil
6) 5 to 6 hard boiled eggs
Equipment:
Earthware - 4 or 5 litre clay pot (deeper ones easier to handle) - because the acid will corrode metalware so always use claypot if possible.
Anyway lately the weather was been scorching hot and affected my appetite. So with Auntie Lilian's verbal instructions, I tried out pork trotters in ginger and sweetened vinegar. There are quite a few variations, it will not be screwed up easily and the trick is in the control of fire.
Ingredients:
1) 1 pork hand (Indonesian pig is preferred; left hand or right hand, up to you) - request butcher to chop into pieces
2) 1 old ginger (sliced & then smashed with knife)
3) 2 table spoons of good quality brown sugar
4) 1 to 2 bottles of Chan Kong Thye black sweet rice vinegar (Confident, then buy 1. Kiasu, then buy 2 bottles)
5) Sesame oil
6) 5 to 6 hard boiled eggs
Equipment:
Earthware - 4 or 5 litre clay pot (deeper ones easier to handle) - because the acid will corrode metalware so always use claypot if possible.
Preparation
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| Old ginger |
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| Remove skin, sliced and smashed lightly with knife |
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| Hardboil the eggs. If cold eggs, cook in room temperature water from start to boiling for about 10 minutes. Egg-shells will crack easily if placed in boiling water immediately. |
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Set aside (de-shell when you have free time in between)
|
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| 1st quick hot shower - Place all pork pieces in boiling water & skim off the scum on top (about 5 minutes will do) |
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| 2nd shower - run under tap and rinse about 2 times, aim is to remove more bloody water from pork pieces. |
Cooking time!!!!
1) Heat up claypot, add sesame oil and pan-fry ginger pieces till fragrant. Adjust to medium heat.
2) Empty entire bottle of vinegar. Turn up to high heat.
3) Optional: Add water if you like it less acidic. Skip to step 4 if not required.
This recipe does not require additional water unless the broth is too vinegary and not to your taste. Also in case heat is out of control and vinegar is being vaporized quickly, then add the water la! One trick is to fill up same bottle with water so that one is aware how much water had been added in ratio to vinegar.
4) So now the vinegar is boiling. Add the pork pieces in.
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5) I lowered it piece by piece to prevent injury. But if you are very kungfu, you can add all at once. Ideally, the pork pieces are able to "swim" freely, if not then you might need to add water (see step 3). Wait for the boil, then switch to low heat for simmering.  6) 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. You will add as little or as many spoonfuls as you like. Simmer on low heat for about 90 mins from now. Be vigilant and check to see in between if the pork pieces are still able to "swim" around in broth. Add water as needed. and adjust fire along the way. A layer of fatty oil will be floating up and clear it as and when. After 90 mins ......     |
This is pretty much done! Turn off the fire, pour yourself a beer, rest the pork for about 30 minutes.
Then eat!
Good news for the busy and the lazy. You can cook a lot at a time, because pork can be kept in vinegar (natural preservative) for days! Tomorrow, you will be able to taste that everything is better and loads more flavourful overnight! So if you are unable to finish it immediately. You can leave it in the same pot but give it a final boil (sterilisation), cover it up and leave the pot undisturbed till next meal.
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