Chinese pan-fried crispy cumin ribs.
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
- Choose ribs with some fat can enhance the flavor and make your ribs more moist.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 teaspoon salt, divided
- ¼ tsp. sugar
- ½ 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 or until your ribs are soft as you want (depending how soft you want the ribs to be). Cover the lid and soak the ribs with the water until completely cooled down.
Add ½ teaspoon 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.
Pan-fried Crispy Ribs
Ingredients
- 500 g 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 teaspoon salt ,divided
- ¼ tsp. sugar
- ½ 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
Instructions
- Soak the ribs with clean water for around 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 or until soft as wanted (depending how soft you want the ribs to be). Cover the lid and soak the ribs with the water until completely cooled down.
- Add ½ teaspoon salt, sugar, light soy sauce and oyster sauce. Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes. Coat with starch just before pan-frying.
- 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.
Nutrition
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.
Alina
Nice!
Andreas
Hello Elaine,
I was so happy, as I managed to get my hands on some sweet potato flour. Unfortunately the coating stuck to the pan more than to the meat 🙁 I added a bit of water to mitigate, so the meat was not as crispy as it looks in your pictures. It tasted very good nonetheless, and I'm determined to try again, until I manage to get it right.
Thank you for this great recipe!
Elaine
Andreas,
If you want the ribs to be crispy, add starch just before pan-frying.
Jenny
This recipe is easy to follow and it worked very well! Pork turned out perfectly. Thanks Elaine!
Elaine
You are the most welcome, Jenny. Thanks for much for your trusting and trying this recipe. It is just a personal creation and I am so glad that it worked for you.
Chino
This turned out great although i have to admit 10 minutes simmering is too short. I probably simmered mine close to an hour but i guess that depends on the meat you bought. Everything else is great though! I substitute red chilis and bell pepper to the chilis described in the recipe. Looking forward on trying more recipes!
Elaine
Wow, that's a long simmering time. I will note that in the recipe. Thanks so much for pointing this out. Happy cooking!
Isabela
Hi Elaine, thanks a lot for the recipe. My boyfriend really likes the Sichuan pork ribs that he eat regularly in our university canteen, he asked me to make this for him. Both of us really love how it turned out - we added more cumin powder because we like it strong. It's a keeper! Love from Singapore.
Elaine
Isabela,
Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback. Cumin is really so good with meats. Enjoy.
Jenny C.
I made this spare ribs recipe for dinner last night. The meat was so tender. I added 十三香 (13 Spices) powder & Sichuan pepper corn powder instead of cumin as my family doesn't like cumin. It was still very delicious. Thsnks a lot for your recipe. The night before I cooked your Sweet Sour Pork Ribs. It turned out very well too.
Elaine
Thanks Jenny for the feedback! 13 spices with Sichuan peppercorn and cumin, I cam imagine how delicious the ribs are. Happy cooking!
Denny
Elaine,
This was unbelievably delicious! Everything worked out exactly as you wrote. I did not have any issues at all.
I like using spicy peppers (Long Hots for those in the US) so I made 2 versions. A spicy one with peppers for me and my husband and a non-spicy version for my 3 children using thai basil instead of peppers. They all loved it too -from the 4 year old to the 14 year old.
Than you!
Elaine
Thanks Denny for your feedback. Using basil for children's version is brilliant idea. I will try for my daughter too.
Denny
You're the one who deserves thanks! I made it again - this time using pork belly- and it was just as delicious. The sweet potato coating didn't stick as well because of all the fat, but I didn't mind. Also, my basil wasn't looking good by this week, so I used celery for the non-spicy version.
Priscilla
This was delicious!! I prefer garlic to cumin so I didn’t use any cumin and used plenty of garlic and they came out so tasty. Super versatile recipe, the method is great and you can tweak to whichever flavours/spices you like when frying at the end. Had to switch vinegar for the wine as I didn’t have any and the meat was super tender with a crispy coating. Yum!! Will make again for sure. Thanks Elaine
Elaine
Thanks Priscilla for your lovely feedback. I believe you get a lovely garlic flavor. Happy cooking.