Stewed Pork Knuckle

[blondiewonder]

hi

you know the great big vats of stewed pork knuckle, i want to try and do it upon my return to england but don't know what the stock is flavoured with. can anyone shed some light?

many thanks

emma

[realthaideal]

This stuff is delicious isn't it ? I make my own. Never quite the same way, but always with a few essentials you can vary to your own tastes as well. I'm sure Bambina will chime in with a full recipe soon, but here's my info.

It's called Khao Ka Hmu - Prok Leg with Rice. But the preparation is very similar if not the same as the pork they stew for noodle soups - Hmu Dtun. Dtun being the word for stewed. Sometimes they use the full name Hmu Dtun Ya Jin, 'Ya Jin' meaning 'Chinese Herbs.' You could at the very least hit a Tesco Lotus or an Chinese Doctor for that matter and get your Ya Jin. Tesco's isn't as fun as doing your own mix though. A Chinese herbal medicine practitioner may overload you with too many herbs. I usually keep mine simple with a bit of white pepper and some star anise. To which I then add copious amounts of White Soy Sauce - See-Ew Khao, and I use the Dek Somboon brand, very tasty - and then a fair pinch of brown sugar.

I suggest going with the Tesco neatly packaged herbs to start and then experiment leaving some things in and others out. The Tesco one also contains these little red berries that are all the rage in the West now... forget the name. The Chinese have known of their powers for centuries. Now the West is just catching on. The point of the Thai herbs is that this food is both good tasting and good for you.

Oh yeah, simmer that thing slow n low for many hours to get it falling off the bone the way they do at the street stalls.

[BambinA]

It is better if you can prepare all ingredients by yourself; however, this is a shortcut.

Instant Paloh powder from LOBO

Picture of it >> http://www.kiinakauppa.com/asia_shop/uploads/3652.JPE

[Niloc]

Well BambinA gave us the picture does anyone else have the recipe. I have tried 'pigs trotters' like my Mum used to make but somehow they were not quite like I remembered...

[realthaideal]

Hey NiloC. So... Bambina's recipe is for Pa Loh which is a similar soy-sauce stewed preparation, but I really am not a fan of it. For a recipe it helps to know if you're talking about Pa Loh, the bits of pork and usually hard boiled eggs (whole) in brown broth, or about Khao Ka Hmu, the stewed whole pork leg served over rice often with a side of pickled mustard greens and a steamed egg ? They differ a fair amount and subtley. In my thoughts, Pa Loh is more like soy sauce simmered pork in five-spice powder. It is not as clean and refined a way of doing things. Ka Hmu is made with variations on the ingredients as I've mentioned. You can do as little a s a bit of cinnamon stick, some star anise, and peppercorns with sugar and soy sauce and it comes out great. I did pull up a recipe here. Tell me if it sounds like what you're looking for. But again, you can find the Ya Jin mixes in Tesco and Makro and they don't have the same ingredients. Each brand will vary. Up to you to mix n match as you like. Also: with any stew, cook it slow n low for a long time n let the liquid reduce. Thsi gives you the nice thick n hearty juice at the end which is so nice on top of the pork n rice.

KHAO KA MOO

Pork Leg with Rice

Sauce

4 cups (1 qt/1 l) water

1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) light soy sauce

1/2 cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) sweet soy sauce

1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) Maggi seasoning

1/4 cup (1 1/2 oz/45 g) brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 garlic cloves (kratiem), minced

1 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 cup coriander leaves (bai pak chee)

1/8 teaspoon cardamon powder

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

4 pieces of star anise

1 leg of pork, about 2 Ib (1 kg), from the chump end

4 cups cooked jasmine rice (khao suay)

1/2 cup coriander leaves (bai pak chee)

• Combine all the sauce ingredients in a large pot. Heat the sauce to boiling and add the leg of pork.

• Simmer on low heat for 1 hour or until the pork is tender.

• When the leg is cooked remove it from the pot and slice into thin pieces to serve.

• Divide the cooked rice onto individual plates then add some slices of pork to each one. Ladle some sauce over the rice and pork. Garnish with the cilantro leaves.

[ForeignDevil]

Here's my own version of Kha Mu (Galanga Pork):

3lbs pork hocks

1/4 cup minced galanga

1/4 cup minced cilantro stems

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/4 cup black soy sauce

1/2 cup light soy

2oz palm sugar or rock candy

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

chicken or pork stock to cover

pound galanga, garlic and cilantro till smooth

add all ingredients to a large pot with enough stock to cover

bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer

skim top of any foam that arises

after about 20 minutes check seasoning adding sugar and black and light soy as needed

shouldn't be too sweet or salty and should be fairly dark in color

keep in mind stock will reduce and concentrate flavors

simmer an hour or so on low heat ,stirring on occasion, till meat is is quite tender (should almost fall apart when lifted out of the pot

when done remove meat and slice and serve over jasmine rice with a bit of the gravy spooned over

[Niloc]

Thanks RTI and Foreign Devil, I am going to try both your recipes. I was not sure what cilantro is, my wife asked me and I said 'not sure, I think it is an American green herb' I looked on Wiki and found out that cilantro is coriander, so problem solved!!

Colin

[Bluelotus]

Pak Chee is cilentro in Thai

[Niloc]

Well we cooked the pork, 60 baht for a kilo and it was more than worth it, it is magnificent!! I am trying to convince my wife we should open a street stall and make a fortune!!

[egg]

my wife cooks kha hmu ,,, saap , mak mak ,,, about the only Thai dish that l really love ,,,, it will be good to test these other recipes ,, thanks

cheers

egg

[Jockstar]

My missus gets a bag of the dry spices needed from the local Asian shop. Its super and as close as.

[suegha]

It does taste good. I wonder how 'healthy' it is?