RECIPES & TIPS

Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs 糖醋排骨 Tángcù páigǔ

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So, we figured we’d teach you a simple recipe of 糖醋排骨 a.k.a. Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs. Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs is a representative traditional sweet-and-sour flavor dish, mostly consumed in restaurants since it is somewhat hard to prepare it at home. We did our best to keep the recipe as simple as possible, without giving up on tradition! You can trust! Fresh pork ribs are the protagonist of this goodness, the meat is fresh and tender, and the color of the finished ribs is red and shiny. Traditionally, the dish is served as an appetizer and is extremely popular in the southern parts of China. Let’s get started!

RECIPE

Pork ribs 500g

Garlic

Ginger

Spices (cinnamon, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves)

Water

Preserved plums (3-4 pieces)

Vinegar (black rice vinegar) 4 tbsp

Soy sauce (light) 3 tbsp

Cooking wine 1 tbsp

Water 5 tbsp

Rock sugar 2 tbsp

Sesame oil 1 tbsp

Spring onion (white part)

Garlic

Ginger

Water

Extra vinegar

Sesame seeds (white)

Spring onion (green part)

PREPARATION

Let’s start

Start by squeezing the ginger as well as the garlic to get smooth pastes and put them aside.

Also cut some ginger and garlic into slices and leave them aside.

Chop the green onions into chunks for the white part and into small pieces for the green part.

Sauce

Prepare the sauce by adding 4 tbsp of vinegar, 3 tbsp of soy sauce (light), 1 tbsp of cooking wine and 5 tbsp of water and the preserved plums (3-4 pieces).

Blanching

Place the pork ribs into a pot with cold water and bring it to a boil. Add some ginger and garlic (slices) with other spices (bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and red Sichuan peppercorns) to get rid of the fishy smell of the meat (腥味). Once the water starts boiling, eliminate all the impurities that come up on the surface and drain out quickly the meat into a separate container full of cold water. This will help to stop the cooking process while cleaning up the meat from the remaining impurities. Then drain the ribs with some paper tissue or more environmentally friendly towel and make sure they are fully dried.

Cooking

Sesame oil into a wok and here we go, 2 tbsp of rock sugar over medium heat and wait until the sugar gets gold. Place the ribs inside and make sure to turn them to get the brown color from the sugar melt onto the surface of the meat. Be careful not to burn the sugar.

Once the ribs have absorbed the sugar, getting nice and brown, turn into high heat and pour in the sauce together with some minced ginger and garlic, together with the chunks of green onions (white part). Also add some slices of both garlic and ginger for an extra texture and taste. Simmer it for a couple of minutes, then pour in some water and cover with a lid. Time to wait for this to simmer (medium heat) for about 30 minutes.

Get the lid away, add some extra vinegar (as much of it evaporated during the simmering) and adjust the thickness of the sauce according to its status by putting everything on high heat and moving the wok around.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds and spring onions (green part) and that’s it! This is our Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs. Guys, time to eat!