Steamed Pork Ribs (蒸排骨) - Two Variations

These steamed ribs are one of my eldest's favourites, although she recently lost her two front teeth so they might be off the menu for a while. I asked my butcher to chop them for me into 4 cm lengths (2kg, 10 minutes before closing time, I bet he loved that!). However, I've since learned from my friend, Kit, that I need to ask for the meaty ribs, as the ones I got were a bit on the skinny side. For supermarket ribs, I would go out of my way to buy Waitrose's free range pork ribs - my Mum made a lot of these for me after my eldest was born, and recommends them highly.

Chu Hou (柱侯) sauce is a soybean sauce, which can be found in Chinese supermarkets. An alternative could be hoisin sauce, maybe with a little more garlic and ginger.

Chu Hou Sauce

Because my parents do it, I soak the ribs for a few hours, which makes them lovely and soft. You can make batches of these and freeze them in their marinade. Once defrosted, they sit in a steaming basket above your rice while it cooks, for a hassle-free dinner.

Ingredients (with Chu Hou Sauce)

• Approx. 500g pork ribs, chopped into 4cm lengths, soaked for a few hours and drained
• 4-5 slices of peeled, fresh ginger, cut into matchsticks
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 2-3 dessert spoons of chu hou sauce
• Few drops of sesame oil

Serves 2

Instructions

• Place the ribs, ginger, cornflour, chu hou sauce and sesame oil into a large bowl and combine thoroughly
• Let marinade for at least 30 minutes, ideally overnight
• Place in a steaming dish and steam for 20 minutes
• Serve with rice



Variation (with Black Bean, Garlic and Chilli Sauce)

A tasty variation is to replace the chu hou sauce with black bean and garlic sauce, and add a sliced red chilli. If you don't like too much spice, de-seed the chilli before adding it to the mix.

Lee Kum Kee Black Bean and Garlic Sauce

Steamed Pork Ribs with Black Bean, Garlic and Chilli