Steamed Pork Ribs

I have all sorts of sauces in my fridge, some are store-bought like oyster sauce and hoisin sauce as they are not worth making them at home. I did attempt making oyster sauce from fresh oysters and they turned out to be too stinky/fishy. But i like to homemake other sauces like sambal , xo sauce and black bean sauce. These sauces come in very handy and any dish can be prepared with them in a very short period of time. I ran out of black bean sauce yesterday and had to make it from scratch but i will make a batch soon and take some pictures to share.

Steamed Pork Ribs is a favorite to many who go for 'yum cha' - Dim Sum but, i do not like to order this dish cos most of the time, the ribs are too boney and fatty but homemade is so much better cos you can choose the best, meaty soft bones available - bones with cartilage is preferred to ribs with hard bones. For additional or variations - Goji berries(kei ji), Chinese black olives(lam gok), chillies , salty plums or tomatoes can be used.


Ingredients:

1/2 lb soft bone pork ribs - cut into bite-size

1 tbsp black bean - wash and lightly smashed

2 cloves garlic - minced

1 tbsp minced ginger

A pinch of cornstarch/tapioca starch

Seasoning:

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

1 tbsp sesame oil

Method:

Marinate pork ribs with salted black beans, garlic, ginger and seasonings. Leave for at least 10 minutes.

Add in cornstarch/tapioca starch to bind lightly.(A pinch will do cos pork ribs should be fairly moist with sauce after steaming and too much cornstarch/tapioca tends to dry up the dish)

Leave this aside while you cook rice in the rice cooker. Watch out for the rice to loose the big bubbles and just before it finishes cooking and turn to 'warm' function, put in the prepared pork ribs to steam. Alternatively steam prepared pork ribs over rapidly boiling water for 7 - 8 minutes.

Sprinkle with sesame oil before serving hot.