Braised Pork Shank on Rice - Kow Kha Moo ข้าวขาหมู

Method

Rinse the pork shanks really well to remove any small bits of bones and pat them dry. Add about ¼ cup of cooking oil to a wok. Gently lay a shank in the hot oil. Let the skin fry until it turns white. Fry the meat until it turns light brown (picture 2). It should take about 5-7 minutes. Fry the other shank the same way. Remove the shanks into a large pot. Fill the pot with 3 quarts of water. It should almost cover the shanks. Let it boil without the lid or with the lid ajar to reduce the liquid. Keep the oil in the wok for frying spices.

Grind garlic, peppercorns and cilantro roots in a blender or mortar pestle (picture 4). Add the mixture to the wok and fry over medium heat. After a couple minutes, you should smell the aroma (picture 5). Remove the spice mixture and add to the pot. Leave the oil in the wok, you'll use it later. Let the shanks continue to boil.

Toast the cinnamon stick and star anise until they are fragrant or start to burn. You can toast them in a cast iron pan or in an oven. I toasted them in a cast iron pan and it took me just a few minutes. Remove them and add to the pot.

In the wok, add 3 tablespoons of sugar, ½ teaspoon of salt and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Let the sauce mixture come to a boil and thicken (picture 7).

Add the sugar and soy sauce mixture to the pot and keep it boiling.

As the broth gets reduced, move the shanks around to get the all the parts submerged so that everything cooks at the same rate and the meat acquires the brownish color.

Boil 3 eggs or as many as you’d like. Let the eggs boil for 4 minutes (when it starts to boil, let it go for 4 minutes). Remove the eggs and let them cool down in cold water. Peel and drop the eggs into the pot. At this point the shanks should have been boiling for about 3 hours. The broth should be reduced by half.

Let the shanks sit overnight (If you can wait) for a deep flavor; the seasoning will permeate the shanks and the boiled eggs will turn brown.

The shanks are ready when you can see the bones poking out and the meat comes off the bone easily. The rinds have a deep brown color. Total boiling time is about 3-4 hours.

The next day when you’re ready to serve, remove the eggs if you like soft eggs. Otherwise, let the eggs boil in the broth until you're ready to serve. Let the pork shanks come to a boil. Drop the Chinese broccoli in the pork shank broth for a couple minutes. Remove the Chinese broccoli and cut into 2-inch pieces. Transfer the Chinese broccoli to a serving plate.

Rinse the pickled mustard and boil the pickled mustard in plain water for a couple minutes. Remove and drain the water out. Chop and add to the serving plate.

To plate the shanks, remove the bones and chop the shanks into serving pieces, ladle some broth on the shanks. You can serve the shank, Chinese broccoli, pickled mustard and eggs in a platter and have a bowl of rice on the side. Or you can serve individual plates. Serve with a chili garlic sauce, cloves of garlic and Thai chili peppers.

Method

Prepping the Greens

Rinse mustard greens in cold water. Make sure you get the dirt between the leaves out, especially on the stems. Cut them lengthwise or into large chunks and place in a large bowl. Add the salt and mix them well. My mother would add just salt and massage the salt into the mustard greens. Some how I can't bring myself to bruise the beautiful greens. My unconventional method is to add salt and mix them. Then add some water to dissolve the salt so that it can get inside the mustard greens. Leave the mustard greens at room temperature overnight.

Preparing the Container

Any glass jar (or old pickles jar) is great for pickling mustard. Wash the jar in dishwasher (high water temperature) or boil the jar for 10 minutes to sterilize the jar.

Packing and Pickling

After sitting in brine overnight, the mustard greens should be wilted, but still green. Rinse mustard greens in cold running water to remove the salt. Pack them into the jar tightly.

Add a teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Pour enough water to cover the mustard greens. With my jar, it took 2 cups of water to cover the mustard. Close the lid.

You may want to place a small dish or bowl inside the jar, on top of the greens, to push the greens down and keep them submerged. Keep the jar at room temperature. You'll see the color starting to change from green to yellowish green.  It took 1 week during the fall with average room temperature at 70 degrees. When I make it in Thailand, it takes 12 hours at room temperature(90 degrees).

When the pickled mustard is ready, it should be yellowish green.  Taste a piece to see if it is ready. It should be sour and salty, but more sour than salty. Be careful when you take the pickled mustard out, your utensil must be clean and dry. Any water or other materials that get dropped into the jar can make the whole jar goes bad.

Your pickled mustard’s gone bad?

When you see whitish film floating on top, it’s time to start a new jar. Toss out the bad pickled mustard. Wash and sterilize the jar in boiling water for 10 minutes. Start over again.

How long can you keep the pickled mustard?

I usually make mine at the end of summer or in fall. I keep the pickled mustard until the beginning of the summer in the jar at room temperature.

Method

Peel garlic and cut the stem off from pepper. Add garlic, peppers and salt into food processor. Chop the peppers until they are roughly ground.

Scoop out the mixture into a jar. Pour the vinegar in.  The vinegar should cover the pepper mixture. The chili garlic sauce will thicken over time. You may need to add more vinegar to keep the mixture submerged.