Mom's Pig Trotter Soup (Laoma Tihua)

Ingredients

• Pig trotters (preferably front trotters: more meat and tendon, less bone)
• Scallion
• Ginger
• Cooking wine
• Light soy sauce
• Angelica dahurica (bai zhi)
• Angelica root (dang gui, optional)
• Chicken bouillon powder
• Salt
• Garlic
• Bird's eye chili
• Ground white pepper
• Light soy sauce
• Aromatic vinegar
• Sichuan pepper oil
• Sizzling chili oil (optional)
• White kidney beans (kelp if unavailable)

Steps

Getting started

1. Soak 200 g white kidney beans in water the night before
2. Prepare front pig trotters: ask the butcher to split them down the middle, singe off the hair with a blowtorch, then wash them at home
3. Put the trotters, scallion pieces, ginger slices and cooking wine in a pot of cold water, blanch for ten minutes, skim off the foam, then remove and rinse
4. Put the trotters, dang gui, bai zhi, white pepper and ginger slices in a pressure cooker; once it reaches pressure cook for thirty minutes, add the white beans and cook another ten minutes. If the broth is milky white at this point, congratulations, you did it right (if you need to add water midway, only add hot water)
5. After opening the lid, season with salt, chicken bouillon and chopped scallion
6. Make the signature dipping sauce: combine scallion, garlic, bird's eye chili, white pepper, light soy sauce, aromatic vinegar, sizzling chili oil, Sichuan pepper oil and some of the trotter broth
7. Pour the sauce over and dig in