Sweet and Sour Ribs (Tang Cu Pai Gu, 糖醋排骨)
A beginner-friendly recipe for Chinese sweet and sour ribs. It provides a well-balanced condiment ratio, an approachable cooking method and delivers a restaurant standard result.
Servings: 3
Ingredients
- 700 g pork ribs, about 1½ lb, see note 1
- 1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 thumb-sized ginger
- 2 stalks scallions cut into halves
- 5 tablespoon white sugar or 70 g/2½ oz rock sugar
- 4 tablespoon black rice vinegar divided
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnishing
- Scallions, finely chopped for garnishing
Instructions
Blanch the ribs
- Put pork ribs into a large cookware. Fill it with plenty of room temperature water. Bring it to a boil then leave to simmer.
- Skim off the foam appearing on the surface with a spoon. After about 3 minutes, drain the ribs.
Braise the ribs
- Pour oil into a non-stick or stainless steel wok or skillet/frying pan (see note 2) then add the drained ribs, garlic, ginger, and scallions. Stir fry over medium heat until the ribs become a little golden on the surface.
- Add sugar, black rice vinegar (keep 1 tablespoon for later use), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and salt. Top up with hot water enough to just level with the ribs (I used about 400ml/1¾ cups).
- Bring to a full boil then turn the heat to low. Cover and leave to simmer for about 50 minutes (see note 3).
Reduce the broth
- When the time is up, uncover and pick out all the garlic, ginger and scallions. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of black rice vinegar. Turn the heat up to high to boil down the liquid.
- Stir from time to time. Once the liquid becomes just thick enough to coat the ribs. Remove from the heat immediately. Be attentive not to overcook as it’ll cause the sugar to burn. It took me about 8 minutes but it may vary in your case.
Garnish and serve
- Transfer the ribs to a serving bowl/plate. Sprinkle sesame seeds and scallions over to garnish.
- They may be eaten while warm or at room temperature. Serve them with plain rice and vegetable dishes.
Video
Notes
1. Usually, pork ribs chopped into short pieces are used in this dish. Ask your butcher for help if possible. Otherwise, please feel free to use regular-sized ribs.
2. This recipe uses a large amount of vinegar and long braising time, so avoid carbon steel or cast iron cookware, as the acidity can damage the patina built upon the surface.
3. You can speed up the process in an instant pot or stovetop pressure cooker.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 629kcal
