
Shanghai-Style Red Braised (Sweet & Sour) Spare Ribs in Japanese Carbon Steel Wok
FULL VIDEO: Episode #9 Shanghai-Style Red Braised (Sweet & Sour) Spare Ribs in Japanese Carbon Steel Wok.
Click here to see all Japanese wok models.
Shanghai Red Braised (Sweet & Sour) Spare Ribs use a kind of caramel to add flavour to the pork ribs. The cooking process is long and uses high heat. Pork ribs would scratch your non-stick cookware, but the lightweight and heat efficient Japanese carbon steel wok handles the dish well at home.
- Many of the ingredients can be found in Asian grocery stores or on Woolworths online.
- You may need to chop pork ribs in smaller sizes. You can buy the short pork ribs needed from Asian butchers.
- Be careful of oil splattering in the process.
- Be patient and check the food periodically. You don't want to burn your sauce.
Ingredients
- 500g of short pork ribs
- 3 slices of ginger
- 1 green onion stalk
- 15ml of Chinese Shaoxing Wine (a common type of Chinese cooking wine)
- 30g of rock sugar or crystallised sugar (crush into small pieces or substitute with normal white sugar)
- 1.5 teaspoons of soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon of white vinegar
Steps
- Pour water in Happycall flex pan and place pork ribs inside.
- Use high heat to bring the water to a boil. Add ginger, green onion and Chinese cooking wine.
- Skim the surface and scoop up the foam to leave a clear liquid. This step is very important.
- Remove the pork ribs and set them aside for later use
- Some recipes suggest rinsing the pork ribs with water and draining them at this point. This step is optional.
- Add oil to the wok and heat over medium high heat.
- Add pork ribs when the wok is heated. Cook until the pork ribs turn brown.
- Remove the pork ribs.
- Add more oil to the wok and add rock sugar. Turn to low heat. Cook until the rock sugar turns brown.
- Put the pork ribs in the wok and stir-fry until they are well coated in the syrup.
- Add hot water to cover the pork ribs fully.
- Turn to medium heat. Add soy sauce and vinegar.
- You may add the same water used to cook the pork ribs. This is optional, but you may need to add more hot water to cover the pork ribs fully.
- Cook for about 30 minutes to ensure the pork ribs are soft and tasty. You may use a lid to speed up the process.
- After 30 minutes, turn to high heat to thicken the sauce again.
- Adding white vinegar at this point is optional.
- Remember to continue stir-frying the meat until you achieve a sticky deep brown colour.
- Add white sesame and green onion. Enjoy!
Additional information:
- Remember a reasonably heated pan and heated oil (not overheating) are key.
- Users will need basic cooking techniques and common sense (understanding of proper heat control, knowing how to check the food periodically, and so on).
- Heat level, Please note that the heat levels shown below are for general reference only. Every cooktop is different. The following ranges apply if 10 is the maximum.
- Low heat: the heat level is 1-2.
- Medium low heat: the heat level is 3-4.
- Medium heat: the heat level is 5.
- Medium high heat: the heat level is 7-8.
- High heat: the heat level is 9-10.
Click here to see all Japanese wok models.
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