The BEST Sweet and Sour Ribs – A Taste of Chinese Home Cooking!
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Servings
3
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
70 minutes
Sweet and Sour Ribs is probably one of the first dishes that a Chinese beginner will choose to learn because it’s the most popular flavor in Chinese cuisine. It exists in many regional cuisines of China, such as Shandong cuisine (鲁菜lǔ cài), Shanghai cuisine (本帮菜běn bāng cài), Sichuan cuisine (川菜chuān cài), and Jiangsu cuisine (苏菜sū cài), etc. Aside from those, every family will have their own twists and taste preferences.
This recipe was passed down from my gramma; it requires simple ingredients, provides a well-balanced condiment ratio, and delivers an irresistible result. One of my fondest childhood memories is my sisters and I fighting over the sweet and sour sauce left on the rib plate. We loved to mix it with white rice, and thought it was the most delicious food we could imagine.
Ingredients
- 680g / 1.5 pounds short pork ribs
- 25g / 1.5 Tbsps soy sauce
- 0.6g / ¼ tsp ground black pepper or to taste
- 27g / 2 Tbsps cooking oil
- 50g / 4 Tbsps sugar
- 12g / about 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 38g / about 2.5 inches of ginger, sliced thinly
- 45g / about 3 scallions, cut into stalks
- 2.5g / about 1 cinnamon stick
- 0.8g / about 1 star anise
- 42g / 3 Tbsps Chinese cooking wine
- 48g / 3 Tbsps rice vinegar
- 50g / 3 Tbsps soy sauce
- 45g / 2.5 Tbsps plum sauce
- 360g / 1.5 cups water
- 6g / 2 tsps toasted sesame seeds as garnish
Directions
Slice the short ribs into individual pieces by cutting between the bones.
- Add the ribs, soy sauce, and black pepper to a nonreactive bowl and mix well. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
- While waiting, prepare the garlic cloves, ginger slices, scallion stalks, cinnamon stick, and star anise. Having these ingredients beforehand avoids rummaging around while caramelizing the sugar.
- Preheat a wok to smoking hot and add the oil. Pan-fry the ribs over high heat for 1-2 minutes or until the meat is slightly charred. Chef’s Secret: This step is not to cook the ribs all the way through, rather than creating what’s called a Maillard reaction so the flavor of this dish becomes complex.
- Remove the ribs from the wok and set them aside. Make sure to clean any residue left in the wok or else it will burn while the sugar caramelizes, bringing a bitter taste.
- Add the sugar to the same wok and stir over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes or until the sugar turns amber in color.
- Wait until the caramel starts producing foamy bubbles and then quickly toss in the garlic, ginger, scallions, cinnamon stick, star anise, and the seared ribs. Stir everything for a minute or until fragrant.
- Add the Chinese cooking wine, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and plum sauce. Continue to stir until well combined.
- Transfer everything into a clay pot. If you don't have a clay pot, use a stainless steel stock pot or a Dutch oven.
- Rinse the wok with the water and pour it into the clay pot. Turn the heat to low and simmer the ribs for 50 minutes or until fork tender.
- Discard all the soggy aromatics and then check the consistency of the sauce. If the sauce is thin, turn the heat to high and constantly stir to reduce the sauce until it’s thick and syrupy.
- Turn off the heat and add toasted sesame seeds as garnish. Serve the ribs with white rice.
Recipe Video
Recipe Note
Souped Up Swap: Plum sauce is similar to plum jambut it’s made with fermented plums, which give it a unique flavor. If youdon’t have it, use regular plum jam.
