Still Feeling Peckish

Chinese New Year is round the corner. One of the best things about CNY is getting to taste the different dishes that the aunties dish out. These are fiercely protected recipes and these traditional dishes are usually showcased on this special occasion. I’ve never thought of CNY as a holiday because I swear the eating and visiting completely wears me out. But the food is always worth it and it takes a huge amount of self-discipline not to overindulge at this time. In my family, it is the “older generation” who host the family meals. I shudder to think what would happen if they stopped doing so – I would not look forward to doing so because I’ve always felt that I’m more comfortable cooking western type dishes than Chinese food for large crowds. This is because our traditional dishes take a lot of laborious preparation. An aunt once told me that her CNY preparations start about 3 weeks prior – it takes that long to soak the buah keluak seeds I guess!

One of the dishes I’ve always enjoyed is a black vinegar pig trotter stew that actually is served to new mothers as part of their confinement diet. I’m not quite certain why this dish is also served at CNY but I guess this gingery, sour, sweet lusciously fatty dish is uniquely appealing. Most times it takes absolutely hours to make this, but I decided to experiment doing it in the Instant Pot. 

Verdict – easier and quicker than the original cooking method, but I think there is something about a traditional long braise that reduces the gravy to syrupy thickness. Still, I think this was not bad for a modern cook (who doesn’t want to stand at the stove for 4-5 hours). This recipe still uses the traditional ingredients like black ChinKiang vinegar and sweet black vinegar which may not be really accessible in other countries, but who knows…I did see frozen Singapore spring roll skins in Greece! A Chinese grocery in the most remote country may still have the makings of this recipe.

The 3 essentials of this dish – old and young ginger, the “Bulldog” sweet vinegar and ChinKiang  vinegar.

Just a side note to people doing low carb – this is not the lowest carb dish as there are hidden sugars in the sweet vinegar and of course, palm sugar is sugar. However when I’ve eaten this dish I usually take the eggs or meat and try not to take too much of the gravy – so far I haven’t really spiked too much.