SPARE RIBS IN DIM SUM SAUCE WITH BLACK BEANS
My favorite dim sum dish is steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce. As children, we eagerly anticipated our trips to Chinatown for dim lunch. Ah…a long time ago now, that was. Steamed spare ribs were also a favorite of my daughters, nieces, and nephews when we took them to dim sum as children.
One of the easiest dim sum recipes to make is steaming spare ribs with fermented black beans, a favorite. If you check out the ingredients and breeze through making it for the first time, you’ll want to make it often! It’s not so obvious how to duplicate the flavor. Dim sum at home will taste just like the restaurant version, and the recipe may be tweaked to suit your preferences.
Pork ribs are typically sold pre-cut at Asian markets by butchers. An excellent Chinese cleaver or a local butcher may be all you need if you don’t have access to an Asian store. Just keep an eye on your hands! If you think about it, unless you’re an experienced knife user, you should leave this to the butcher.
Dim sum at home is complete with this steamed rib recipe, along with other dim sum favorites like pork puffs, potstickers, and pan-fried noodles in Cantonese soy sauce. As a side dish, you may serve this over rice, and your guests will be delighted. We are ready to go now.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb. of pork ribs(cut into 1-inch pieces; your butcher can do this for you!)
- 2 tsp. of sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1 tbsp. of Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp. of sesame oil
- 1/8 tsp. of ground white pepper
- 2 tbsp. of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. of water
- 2 tbsp. of long hot green peppers (roughly chopped and de-seeded)
- 2 tbsp. of long hot red peppers (roughly chopped and de-seeded)
- 1 tbsp. of Chinese fermented black beans (rinsed thoroughly)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Garnish with scallions, parsley, sesame oil, and freshly ground white pepper and serve over rice or noodles. Serve them after they have been marinated for at least eight hours in the refrigerator. Marinating for 30 minutes is the minimum if you’re short on time. Mix the marinated ribs with cornstarch and water. There should be very little or no liquid in the mixture when using cornstarch.
- To steam the ribs, place them on a heatproof plate. Dim sum type plates were utilized, but you could use a large, shallow bowl for the entire dish. To finish the ribs, top them with the peppers and the fermented black beans.
- Add some water to a metal steamer or wok with a steaming rack in the bottom and bring it to a simmer. Steam the plates for 10 minutes until the ribs are opaque and cooked. A fantastic one-dish supper served over rice!