Black Vinegar Trotter

Ingredients:
1 Pig's Trotter(ask for the front trotter)
1 Big Piece Of Old Ginger(about 300g)
1 Handful Of Black Bean
1 Small Bottle Of Black Vinegar, 375ml
1 1/2 Bottle Of Water(use the same vinegar bottle)
2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
1 - 2 Tablespoon Rock Sugar/Brown Sugar
2 - 3 Hard Boiled Eggs

Methods:
1. Peel, wash and cut the old ginger into big pieces then flatten slightly.
2. Rinse the black beans and pat dry then set aside.
3. Heat up sesame oil in the preheated large claypot to saute old ginger till fragrant then add in the black beans and stir for a few minutes.
4. Pour in vinegar and water, covered and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat, cook for about 1 hour remove from heat and soak the rest for over night.
5. Rinse the pig's trotter and cut into convenient pieces, wash and blanch into boiling water.
6. Remove, rinsed and stir-fry with some sesame oil in a preheated dry wok for a while.
7. Lastly bring the soaked vinegar soup back to boil, add in pre-fried trotter pieces and cooked for 20 minutes then add in the hard boiled eggs.
8. Continue to simmer for another 20 minutes then add in sugar to taste.
9. Remove from heat, soak the trotter pieces until tenders and the flavour has be absorbed. Serve hot.

Notes:
a) You can choose to add in more or less Ginger depend on your preference.
b) You can choose to cook the Black Vinegar Soup 1 day ahead before adding the Pig trotter or you can cook all the ingredients together and eat on the day itself or next day.
c) The amount of sugar added also depend on individual taste, you can omit it as well.