Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Red Bean Curd

I’ve been wanting to make this dish for a while now. Every time I see ribs go on sale, I think I should get some and make this dish. But for the longest time, I was unsure about whether I had the right type of fermented bean curd. Well, I finally have the right type after being taught by my mom while she was here. We used it in our Chap Chye recipe and with plenty left, I finally got to do this dish.

Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Bean Curd

Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Bean Curd

Tasting this dish, you’d never know that it had something fermented in it. The final flavor is so smooth and almost "peanuty". I cooked this for one of my informal catering gigs, and they were all trying to guess what the special ingredient was. Someone asked if I had put in peanut butter. Nope, no peanuts in this so it’s safe for those with that allergy issue.

So next time pork spare ribs go on sale (or not!), go to your butcher and have them cut it length-wise into 3 smaller pieces. Then just cut between each rib and you’ll have plenty of little riblets that are perfect size for this dish.

The recipe for this came from "Malaysian Favourites" by Wendy Hutton. It’s turning out to be a pretty good deal for a small book (softcover and mini-sized cookbook with about 40+ recipes in 60+ pages). The recipes that I’ve tried have all turned out really well. If you can get your hands on the book, be sure to buy it. If not, I’ll try to get my hands on some the next time I go home and maybe, just maybe, I’ll give some away.

Pork Ribs Braised with Fermented Red Bean Curd

recipe taken from "Malaysian Favourites" by Wendy Hutton

Ingredients
1 kg (2lbs) meaty pork ribs, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp oil (I found that I didn’t need that much as the pork released some oils as they braised down)
2 tsp finely chopped garlic (or more! ^_^)
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
3 Tbsp mashed fermented red bean curd
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce (told you I used it a lot!)
1 Tbsp rice wine
500-750ml (2-3 cups) chicken stock (ok, I doubled the recipe when I was making this and only used 1 can of chicken stock so I would say use a little less first and then only if your meat is drying out, add more)
1/2 tsp salt (optional) (I didn’t need it)
1 tsp ground white pepper

Mashed Bean Curd, Ginger and Garlic

 Mashed Bean Curd, Ginger and Garlic

Marinade:
2 Tbsp rice wine
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Method:

1. Put pork ribs into a large bowl and sprinkle over the marinade ingredients. Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes.

IMG_7180

2. Heat oil in a wok until very hot, then add pork ribs and stir-fry over very high heat until the ribs turn light brown, 2-3 minutes. Lower the heat to moderately hot, add garlic, ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds.
3. Add the red bean curd and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add in sugar and mix. Add dark soy sauce and rice wine and stir to mix.
4. Put in 2 cups of chicken stock (1/2 can in my case) and bring to a boil.
5. Lower heat, cover the wok and simmer until the pork ribs are tender, 50-60 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking. Add more stock if the sauce is drying up before the meat is tender enough.

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6. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Transfer to a plate and eat with rice.

Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Red Bean Curd

Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Red Bean Curd

That pork is bone-sucking tender and deliciously fatty. Mmmmmm!

Enjoy!

Cheers, Annie

12 thoughts on “Pork Riblets Braised with Fermented Red Bean Curd”

  1. >Absolutely dreamy. You’re blog is fantastic! I think I could crave all recipes for a month straight.

    THANKS so much for stopping by my blog. I watched the gyoza vid on you tube and was AMAZED at that crimping. You go Annie! I’m going to have to graduate from just pressing the edges with a fork to actually crimping those edges with style.

    Will be checking in often!

  2. >@Finance Foodie – thanks!

    @Carolyn – oh yeah!

    @Duo Dishes – you’re welcome at our table!

    @Conversations – Thanks for visiting!

  3. >So interesting! Am quite uninitiated in the world of “bean paste” cooking, ie: all those jars in the Asian supermarket. There’s so many kinds! So confusing! Heheh.

  4. >@TS – I think one of these days we will do a series on Asian grocery shopping. What to look for and why, and how to use it.

  5. >I cooked this a few days ago, and it’s really great! I love fermented tofu and this sure is a wonderful way to prepare it. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Wow! Great dish, one of the best red fermented braised dish i ever tasted. I used rib tips , next time i’ll try meaty baby back pork ribs. I use a little more of the quantity of the ingredients to accentuate the flavors and marinated longer about a hour. I wanted to throw some tia bird chillies in the mix , but i did it your style first , next time im gonna add a lot of chillies because i love it very hot . Thank you for the recipe ! i will add to my recipe data base ! Regards, Rene. Sarasota, Florida , USA

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