Babi Ponteh

After watching Singapore's drama series of 'The Little Nyonya'(小娘惹), I miss Babi Ponteh (stew pork)so much that I still vividly remember Aunty Shirley, a Peranakan Celebrity Chef whom I met while working at Swissotel Merchant Court. She made good 'Durian Pengat' (durian cream) that I never got the chance to learn from her back then. Knowing that I love to eat pork so much, she once sneaked in 'Babi Ponteh' with steamed bun, man tou (馒头) to our then halal staff cafeteria. I fell in love with the dish, and asked for the recipe. Now, I am sharing this recipe with you.



Ingredients:
1 pig's trotter or 300 g pork belly
2 10cm cinnamon
3 onions, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
300 g yam bean (bengkwang), peeled (I replaced it with turnip)
4 potatoes, peeled
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon preserved soy beans (taucheo)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
720 ml water

Method:
* Cut trotter into pieces.
* Blanch in hot water and rinse in cold running tap water to remove scum. Drained.
* Wash cinnamon stick. Grind onions and garlic until fine.
* Wash and cut yam bean into wedges. Wash and cut potatoes into 4 and soak in water.
* Heat oil in a pot and fry cinnamon, ground onions and garlic until light brown and aromatic.
* Add preserved soy bean and fry for 1 minute.
* Add pork pieces and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
* Add dark soy sauce, sugar, salt and water. When meat is half-cooked, add yam bean. Cook, covered for 15 minutes.
* Add potatoes and cook until meat is tender, yam bean is soft and potatoes are cooked and stew thickens.