A quick way to enjoy your ribs with fabulous flavors.

When the summer is approaching, I love to meat more leaner meat than favorite pork belly. Although I still believe pork belly is the yummiest part from a pig. Rib is one of the most popular choice in summer days, either braised to server a noodle or make a national sweet and sour ribs. In this pan-fried crispy ribs, I have simplified the process and you can finish this dish very quickly just using very common ingredients.

Cook’s Note

1. Choose ribs with some fat can enhance the flavor and make your ribs more moist.
2. After cooking the ribs in the pot, I highly recommend soaking the ribs inside the water until cooled. This helps to keep the ribs tender. Similar tip is also used in a very famous Szechuan style cold dish– Sichuan style pork slices in garlic sauce.
3. I use sweet potato starch, which is coarse-textured. So there will be crumbly texture on the surface just like Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken.  Cornstarch works fine for this recipe too.
4. Cumin powder is used as the main spice seasoning, which gives the ribs a very unique and aromatic flavor of BBQ foods. You can change cumin powder to five spice power or your favorite mixed spices.

Ingredients

• 500g ribs
• 2 long green peppers, cut into small chunks
• 1 red fresh peppers, cut into small chunks
• 3 scallions, divided
• 2-3 slices of ginger
• 1 tbsp. cooking wine
• 1 tsp salt, divided
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch (I use sweet potato flour this time, but cornstarch works fine too)
• 1 tbsp. cooking oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2-3 dried red chili pepper (optional) for a hotter version
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 1 tbsp. cumin powder
• 1 tbsp. toasted white sesame seeds

Steps

Soak the ribs with clean water for 15 minutes. Remove the seed of the peppers and cut into small chunks.

Add ribs in a pot with enough cold water, add 1 scallion and several slices of ginger and cooking wine. Bring to a boil, slow down the fire and simmer for 10 minutes (depending how soft you want the ribs to be). Cover the lid and soak the ribs with the water until completely cooled down.

Add 1/2 tsp salt, sugar, light soy sauce and oyster sauce.  Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes. Coat with starch just before pan-frying. I use sweet potato starch (红薯淀粉), which is coarse-textured. So there will be crumbly texture on the surface. You can try to search it in Asian grocers, otherwise use cornstarch or all-purpose flour to replace it. But you may end up with slightly different looking. It is also used in taiwanese salt and pepper chicken.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a pan and heat until hot. Fry the ribs over slow to medium fire until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Move the ribs to one side of the pan and fry garlic, ginger and chili pepper if you are using until aromatic.

Place the fresh peppers in and fry until soft.  Sprinkle salt, cumin powder and sesame seeds. Add sections of 1 scallion at last. Transfer out and serve immediately.

My favorite way is to serve it with steamed rice.

If you tried Elaine’s recipe, leave me a comment and let me know how it goes. You can tag your pictures @chinasichuanfood on Instagram. Happy cooking.