Braised Pork Trotters with Preserved Plum (Classic Cantonese Dish)

Braised pork trotters with preserved plums is a classic Cantonese dish that makes your mouth water just looking at it! The pork trotters are stewed until they're incredibly tender and fall off the bone easily, with a slightly chewy skin that bursts with juice when you bite into them. The sweet and sour flavor of the preserved plums perfectly balances the richness of the meat. Each piece is coated in a thick sauce, savory with a refreshing aftertaste, making it not greasy at all. You'll want to suck every last bit off the bone! It's perfect with rice or as a snack. My family always fights over it; it's a true rice-eating machine, and you'll want to lick the sauce off your chopsticks afterward!

Ingredients

Steps

Soaking preserved plums. Add 300ml of water to preserved plums and soak for about half an hour. Reserve the soaking water for stewing the pork trotters. Soaking the plums in advance allows their sweet and sour flavor to better infuse into the soup, preventing them from being undercooked when added directly to the pot.
Preparing the Pig Trotters Ask the seller to singe the skin off the pig trotters (this removes the hair and fishy smell, making them less greasy) and chop them into suitable pieces (to save time and effort; I prefer to be lazy 😂). After bringing them home, wash them thoroughly, put them in a pot of cold water with scallions, peppercorns, cooking wine, and ginger slices. Blanch them for 5 minutes after the water boils, then remove them, rinse them clean, and drain. (Starting with cold water helps to draw out the blood and impurities from the pig trotters, and rinsing after blanching removes scum, making the trotters cleaner.)
Prepare one star anise, two bay leaves, sliced young ginger, dried tangerine peel, and 10g of yellow rock sugar (if the apple cider vinegar contains sugar, then the yellow rock sugar is not needed). These spices enhance the aroma and remove any fishy smell. Yellow rock sugar is milder than white sugar and pairs more harmoniously with the sweet and sour taste of preserved plums.
Prepare the sauce. In a bowl, add 3 tablespoons (about 35g) of tomato sauce and unsweetened apple cider vinegar; if the apple cider vinegar contains sugar, you don't need to add brown sugar. The tomato sauce will give the pork knuckle a brighter red color, while the acidity of the apple cider vinegar will cut through the greasiness and make the pork knuckle more tender.
Stir-frying pig's trotters until browned. Heat a wok with two tablespoons of cooking oil, add the pig's trotters and stir-fry until slightly browned. Add ginger slices and stir-fry until fragrant. Then, drizzle in one tablespoon of cooking wine from the side of the wok. Next, add two tablespoons of light soy sauce, one tablespoon of oyster sauce, and one tablespoon of dark soy sauce, and stir-fry evenly. Stir-frying until browned makes the pig's trotters more fragrant. Adding ginger slices first and then drizzling in cooking wine allows the ginger and wine aromas to blend, better removing any fishy smell. Light soy sauce enhances the umami flavor, oyster sauce adds taste, and dark soy sauce provides color—all in one step, giving the pig's trotters a base flavor and a beautiful appearance.
Stewing Add bay leaves, star anise, and dried tangerine peel and stir-fry evenly. Then pour in the prepared tomato sauce and apple cider vinegar sauce, stir-frying until the pork trotters are evenly coated with the sauce. Finally, add the preserved plums and the water used to soak them, stir-fry evenly, and transfer to a pressure cooker. Add water to cover the pork trotters and pressure cook for 15 minutes starting from the pressure release point. Let it release naturally. If using a regular pot, it needs to stew for about 1 hour. Stir-frying the dried tangerine peel and other spices first, then adding the sauce to allow the pork trotters to absorb the flavor beforehand, and finally adding the preserved plum water helps to retain the sweet and sour aroma of the preserved plums to the greatest extent.
Reduce Sauce and Plate Once the pressure cooker can open naturally, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce until it thickens and coats the pig's trotters. Then it's ready to be plated. Reducing the sauce over high heat allows it to coat the pig's trotters, making them more flavorful and visually appealing.