Pickled Mustard Steamed Ribs, or 酸菜炒蒸排骨, are delightfully sweet-and-sour with the pickle and pungently spicy with a chopped fresh Red Chili.
This very simple little appetizer requires very little preparation and can steam away unsupervised while you attend to other tasks in the kitchen. The flavor is Chinese spirit and pairs the pungent heat of red-chili with the sour, but slightly sweet tang of Thai-style Pickled Mustard Greens. It makes a nice appetizer with drinks
Ingredient Notes for 酸菜炒蒸排骨
The ribs need to be first lightly browned in a little oil before steaming as this will improve the flavor. You could also do this dish with leftover cooked ribs (as long as they are not too heavily seasoned or coated with sauce etc.), but you would certainly want to shorten the steaming time considerably.
For the pickle, the recipe here calls for Thai-Style Pickled Mustard. This is not all that hard to source, but if you need to substitute, you can use almost any tangy pickled green vegetable (although, personally, I would avoid anything that used a lot of Dill).
How to make Pickled Mustard Steamed Ribs
For steaming, the ribs are coated with flout. In this case, the flour is not added as a light dusting, but is instead rubbed well into the meat as this will thicken the steaming juices that get thrown off and give the ribs themselves a nice texture.
The ribs are next mixed with sliced onion, chili, soy sauce, rice wine, salt, and sugar, then marinated for at least 30 minutes (or even overnight if you like).
The ribs are steamed for about 30 – 45 minutes, or until tender. Once steamed, you may drizzle over an extra splash of soy sauce, or a little Fish Sauce, if you like.
Your Recipe Card for 酸菜炒蒸排骨:
Pickled Mustard Steamed Ribs
Ingredients
- ½ lb. Pork spareribs lightly pre-browned in a little oil;
- ½ cup Pickled Mustard Greens;
- ¼ cup thinly sliced Onion;
- ¼ cup Flour;
- 1 tbsp. Light Soy Sauce;
- 1 tbsp. Rice Wine;
- ¼ tsp. Salt;
- 1 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp. Chopped Red Chili;
Instructions
- Toss the ribs with the flour, rubbing the flour into each rib really well so that as much as possible gets absorbed by the meat. Shake off any excess.
- Toss the ribs with the salt and sugar, then add the onions, chili, soy sauce, and rice wine, and stir well to coat the ribs evenly. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- Stir the pickled mustard greens in with the ribs and transfer everything to a suitable steaming dish.
- Sprinkle about a ¼ cup of water over top of the ribs, and then steam for about 30 – 45 minutes until the ribs are nicely tender.