Unker Ho Cooks: Black Vinegar Pig Leg

So hor, I have been eager to cook this super power extremely non-Halal Chinese dish for a long time. Personally, I can't even recall when is the last time I've eaten this meal. So, after referring to a few source of knowledge here and there and talking to my mother, I put on my chef hat and got down and dirty today.

So... here's the story (morning glory):

What you need:

You know hor... most engineers (especially the hardware ones) only work when they have all the specifications and data sheets. But in today's cooking, sometimes all you need is some gut feel and a sense of 'agak-agak', which means an uncanny ability to know how much is enough. Well, cooking is nothing hard lah hombre. It's not like asking you to suddenly go in front and present an analysis of boot time performance of a Canon calculator over 15 samples of solar radiance intensity.

Oh well... so after spending 9 hours of your precious life sitting in front of the company laptop, shut it down and get your car keys and head straight to the nearest Tesco or AEON or Giant or MyDin or Kedai Runcit Ah Seng & Anak-Anak (3 orang sahaja) or whatever is convenient to you lah. For me... I choose the one where I don't have to pay for parking. LOL!! Kiamsiap™ is a virtue.

Hence, tap this down in your iPad's "note" app:

For a meal for 4 adults (the type where you are just filled, not until everyone is bloated like balloons filled with water):

1. ONE bottle of black vinegar 
2. ONE old ginger (To be sure, ask for its age)
3. ONE cylinder of Gula Melaka 
4. ONE pig leg (the front ones are called 'hands' by the butcher and it has less fat)
5. ONE whole bulb of garlic
6. Water from Pejabat Bekalan Air
7. ONE bottle Sesame Oil

See? Only 7 stuff to buy. Nothing hard for a Bayan Lepas engineer.

What you do with them:

First, you need to prepare the stock 1 day in advance:

• Remove skin off the old ginger and smash it until it's broken. Cut into small pieces.

• Put some sesame oil in frying pan and use low heat. Put in the ginger and fry till you smell what The Rock is cooking.
• Don't remove skin of garlic, we need to use the whole thing. Wash it clean and use your knife and poke it in various places just for fun. 

• Heat up a pot with some water, empty the whole bottle of black vinegar into it, add the fried ginger and garlic and let it boil for a while. Turn off the fire and put the whole thing aside and let it cool down. Remember to cover the lid because Penang got flies. If flies go inside the pot and drown then you will have Black Vinegar Pork Leg with Dead Flies. You want that don't you?

The next day.....

• Make sure the butcher shave the pig leg before you bring it home. It's gross to have hair in your mouth. Even if it's animal hair, it's just gross. I'd rather eat a mouthful of sand than hair. Yucks.
• Get the butcher to chop up the leg is smaller pieces too. It's hard to insert one whole leg into a slow cooker, unless if you have a slow cooker that size.

• In a large pot, pour in enough water and add a tablespoon of salt. When it's bubbling (a.k.a boiling), insert pig leg chunks into the pot and watch all the dirt and fat float! OH YEAH~~! You don't want to use this water. It's full of dirt and fat. Pass it to your colleague instead.
• Continue boiling for about 7-8 minutes then turn off the flame.

• Get another pot or big bowl, fill with normal water or cold water and transfer the pig leg chunks into it. I have no idea what does this step do.
• Bring back the black vinegar stock from yesterday. Pour it into a slow cooker and set it to auto mode.
• Insert some Gula Melaka chunks and also all the pork (minus the cold water). Add some water and make sure the slow cooker does not overflow.

• Close the lid and let the slow cooker does its magic. After many many hours when the pork is so tender it disintegrates the moment you touch it, the dish is ready to be served. 
• This is optional but if you like, you may add Chinese Mushrooms or boiled eggs into the pot. 

Anjua? Not too hard maa..... if Unker Ho can do it, so can you.

Btw, this is the must-have meal for ladies who have just given birth. It helps nourish the body, removes dead blood cells and provides warmth. Awesome~!