Recipe: Chinese Braised Spare Ribs

I made Chinese braised spare ribs for a dinner party yesterday and it became one of the favourite dishes of the night.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams of spare ribs (about 1.1 lb), chopped to about 5-7 centimeters (2∼3 inches) in length
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small ginger, washed, peeled and smashed
  • 2 scallions split lengthwise and cut in 4 large chuncks
  • 1 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup Chinese cooking wine, such as Shaoxing
  • 10 Sichuan peppercorns
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt to taste
  • 12 midsize shiitake mushrooms, cut in half (wash and soak in warm water if fresh ones are not available)

Instructions:

  1. Soak the ribs in cold water for 5 minutes.
  2. Drain the water and pat the ribs dry with paper towel to remove any excess moisture.
  3. Heat the oil on high heat until it starts to smoke.
  4. Throw in ginger and scallions and let it sauté for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the ribs, in batches (be careful, it may splash) and fry until all sides are golden brown.
  6. Add soysauce, Chinese cooking wine and all the spices. Do not add salt yet. Make sure the ribs are submerged under the liquid.
  7. Let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium low, add mushrooms and let it simmer for about 1-1.5 hours.
  8. When the meat almost fall off the bones, add salt as needed.
  9. Turn up the heat. Once it boils, it is ready to be served.

Note:

  1. The shiitake mushroom will soak up the flavour from the both and taste even better than the ribs.
  2. The broth is also good with the addition of potatoes, frozen tofu, napa cabbage or rice noodle.

Enjoy!

Coming up next: Algarve, Portugal

10 thoughts on “Recipe: Chinese Braised Spare Ribs”

  1. Pingback: Lisbon Legends – Travel-Gourmand.com

  2. No photo (sigh). This is one of my favorite dishes, spare ribs. Years ago, I saw Dave Lieberman make them using this recipe, so good –https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/braised-hoisin-beer-short-ribs-with-creamy-mashed-yukons-and-sesame-snow-peas-recipe-1944994

    Yours sound tasty and very easy. Did you buy yours at an Asian market. Aren’t the Asian spare ribs smaller in size (not as meaty)? I will look at what Costco has, I know they have a big size, but I have an Asian super market close by, can look at their size too. Europe usually has smaller size cuts of meat than in America. I know that is true in Italy, maybe not Germany 🙂 Meat in America has gotten very expensive now.

    THANKS – always nice to have a home cooked meal.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the beef short rib recipe. I will give it a try as the temperature drops 🙂 I got the rib from my local talho (butcher) and asked them to cut it in smaller pieces. I love it here you can just ask the shop to clean the fish, cut the meat to your desire. I was not able to do that in the US.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Well, cost has gone up in restaurants/cafes, because THEIR food/liquor prices have gone up, minimum wage has gone up in many places, so then restaurants need to up their prices to accommodate for this. I’m sure their rent has gone up too. Gas is up… everything really.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. My dad makes very-similar spare ribs like yours, and I can vouch that they are delicious. With all of that juicy, fatty meat, it’s best paired with plenty of rice to soak up all of that greasy goodness. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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