Dish of Spare Ribs with Chili Bean Sauce
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Spare Ribs with Chili Bean Sauce


China
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 4 side
***
1-1/2 hrs
Reheat		 An excellent deeply flavorful appetizer or meat side dish, easy to make too. I use my 13" wok for the whole process, washing it between steps. The frying step could be omitted, but the flavor would be less intense.

1-1/2
ar
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3
1/4
1
2
1
1
1/4
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2
1
#

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cl
c
T
t
t
T
t
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c
T
Pork Spare Ribs (1)  
Water
-- Sauce
Garlic
Rice Wine (2)
Chili Bean Paste (3)
Hoisin Sauce
Sugar
Soy Sauce, dark
Salt
-----------
Water
Lard or Oil (4)
Make:   -   (1-1/2 hrs - 1/2 hr work)
  1. Remove all excess fat from the PORK RIBS (before weighing), separate them and cut into lengths of about 1-1/2 inches. A sharp Chinese cleaver knife driven by a soft faced mallet is perfect for this.
  2. Put Pork Ribs in a pot with plenty of Water and bring to a boil over high heat. Let boil for around 3 minutes, pour out into a clean sink and rinse.
  3. Crush Garlic and chop fine. Mix together all Sauce items.
  4. Place Pork Ribs in a pot with Sauce mix and bring to a boil. Simmer covered 45 minutes. Remove ribs and retain cooking liquid.
  5. In a wok or sauté pan, heat Oil and fry Pork Ribs stiring until lightly browned all over. This will not take long.
  6. Add reserved Cooking Liquid and cook over moderate heat until a sauce forms that coats the ribs well.
  7. Serve ribs hot with sauce poured over.
NOTES:

  1. Spare Ribs:

      Weight is after removing all excess fat, but with bone and cartilage in.

  2. Rice Wine:

      Use a good, drinkable Chinese rice wine, not that horrid salted "cooking" version. If you don't have this, use a Dry Sherry. Sake is made from rice but is not considered a good substitute. For details see our Chinese Rice Wine page.

  3. Chili Bean Paste:

      Made from chilis, fermented (black) soybeans and oil, it's available in markets serving a Chinese or Southeast Asian community - but it's easty to mix up your own Black Bean Chili Paste. Other chili sauces could be used with some change of flavor.

  4. Lard:

      Lard is the traditional frying medium through Thailand and much of China, as well as Hungary and Poland. The American Heart Association so villainized it Americans are afraid to use it, but it's not nearly as dangerous as the trans fats they told us to use instead. It has a better health profile than butter, and is now increasingly used by top chefs. For details see our Lard page. If you still don't want to use it, use Pure Olive Oil (not virgin), or Avocado Oil for richer flavor.
  5. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
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