Because my family loves all things flavourful, this dish is a regular on our dining table. Last week I invited friends over for a Chinese dinner and attempted to make this for the first time. At first I was worried that the dingy Chinatown in Montreal might not have pork ribs (paigu), but the shopping turned out okay. I added slight variations to my dad's usual methods, because I really love eating spicy food. This being a Chinese recipe, I didn't measure how much of each ingredient I used.
- Mix ribs with several spoonfuls of cornstarch and a little bit of sugar.
- Soak ribs for 30 minutes and then rinse them thoroughly.
- Marinate ribs with a bit of cornstarch, white ground pepper, chicken, and seasame oil.
- In a small bowl, gently mash up some Guizhou blackbeans (to release its aroma and flavour).
- Add minced garlic, golden garlic*, blackbean and a splash of soy to ribs.
- Toss in a few chopped up dried little red peppers if you like.
- Steam for 10-12 minutes.
Making this was a piece of cake, and the ribs were quite tender when they first came off the stove. I think it is a pretty easy and affordable dish for college weekday meals. Next time I will decrease the amount of ribs and line the plate with silken tofu chunks instead.
* Golden garlic, jinsuan, is just minced garlic that has been fried in oil until it turns golden brown. Normally my dad just uses raw garlic, but I think jinsuan has more aroma.
