One dish I like to order when eating Dim Sum is the steamed pork spare ribs. When I was a young child, my mom made steam black bean porks pare ribs on the weekends when she wasn’t too busy. I think if you saw pictures of me, I was a fat kid. My brother and I ate very well. For the pot luck farewell dinner at church, I wanted to try making this classic dish. The first attempt was pretty good but light on taste.
Fermented black bean is a very versatile ingredient. Did you know you can use it to flavor steamed fish, eggplant, and twice-cooked pork. A spoonful of black beans pack so much flavor. Instead of using whole fermented black beans, I decided to save time and purchase black bean sauce from a local Chinese market.
Today, I am very please to remake the dish for dinner.
Serves 4 – 6
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
1 1/2 pounds pork spare ribs, cut to 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 small chili green pepper
White sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Thinly sliced scallions or leeks for garnish, optional
SAUCE:
3 tablespoons spicy black bean sauce (or 2 tablespoons black bean sauce with 1/2 tablespoon chili oil)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
Difficulty Level: 1 – Cut, Mix, and heat
Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: btw 15 and 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
1. Trim extra fat and cut the pork spareribs into easy-to-eat, bite-size pieces
2. Mince the ginger and garlic. Cut thin slices of green chili peppers (remove the seeds).
3. To marinate the pork spareribs, mix together all the ingredients.
4. Place the spareribs and the wet ingredients into a zip lock bag.
5. Store the mixture in the refrigerator between 30 to 45 minutes so the marinate soaks into the meat.
6. Place the meat mixture onto a plate into the pressure cooker. Use the water to create a steam vacuum in the cooker to steam the pork for 15 minutes under “high pressure”.
7. Check the pork and if it’s pulling apart, transfer to serving plate, garnish with scallions, and serve with rice.
