Pictorial: Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib

[hzrt8w]

Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib (生抄排骨)

The subject of Chinese American recipes came up recently. I made this Sweet and Sour Pork Sparerib the other night. This has its Cantonese origin and I like the way it is made in Hong Kong. In the USA, many restaurants offer this dish. However, the ones that I had tried typically were too sweet and the artificially looking bright red color made me feel uneasy. I like the version I make at home. It takes a little bit of work. Hopefully you would like to make it at home too.

You may also make this dish with pork, chicken, shrimp, or other types of meats that please you.

Picture of the finished dish:

Serving Suggestion: 4 to 5

Preparations:

Main ingredients (from top-right, clockwise):

- 1 1/2 lb to 2 lb pork spareribs

- Garlic, use 3-4 cloves

- Plum sauce

- 1 small can of tomato sauce

- 1/2 can of pineapple

- 1 small onion

- 2 small bell peppers

Trim the excess fat off the pork spareribs. Cut into bite-size pieces around the bones.

To marinate the spareribs: use a mixing bowl, add spareribs. Add 1 tsp of ground white pepper, 1 tsp of salt (or to taste), 2 tsp of light soy sauce.

Mix well and set aside for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

Trim the ends of bell peppers, trim seeds. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Peel and mince 3-4 cloves of garlic. Peel and wedge a small onion. Open a can of pineapple (use about 1/2 can).

To make the batter for the pork spareribs, I used about 1 1/2 cup of regular flour, and 1 cup of tempura batter mix, and 2-3 tsp of corn starch.

Add the 3 kinds of powder to a mixing bowl.

Add water and stir to prepare the batter. You don't need exact measurement of water. Just feel it. The batter should not be too thick nor too runny. When you scoop some with a spoon and pour back to the bowl, it should flow smoothly.

Cooking Instructions:

First, deep-fry the pork spareribs in batter.

Use a wok or pot. Add frying oil and set stove at high heat. Wait until the oil heats up (may take 5 to 10 minutes). You can see the oil swirling. If you are not sure, test the oil by dropping a small drop of batter into the oil. If the batter starts sizzling right away, then the oil is hot enough.

Use a small dish, add about 4-5 tsp of corn starch. Take each piece of marinated pork sparerib, first roll it on the dish to coat it with corn starch. This will help the batter stick to the meat.

Dip the sparerib briefly in the batter mix.

Drop it into the frying oil. It should start sizzling right away.

Proceed with all the sparerib pieces. You may need to divide them up into a few batches and fry one batch at a time. It takes about 3-5 minutes. Fry until the batter turns golden brown.

Place the fried sparerib on a piece of paper towel to help it absorbing the excess frying oil. Continue to cook all sparerib pieces.

To make the sauce:

Use a wok/pan, set stove at high heat. Wait until pan is hot, add 2-3 tblsp of cooking oil. Add minced garlic, 1/2 tsp of salt (or to taste). Sautee for a few seconds. Dash in 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine. Stir well.

Add the wedged onion. Sautee for another minute.

Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth, 4-5 tblsp plum sauce, 1 small can of tomato sauce, 3-4 tsp of white vinegar (or more if you like the sour taste), 2-3 tsp sugar, 1/2 can of pineapple and some of the juice from the can. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Add corn starch slurry (suggest: 2 tsp of corn starch in 2 tsp of water). Thicken the sauce to the right consistency and adjust. Add the green bell pepper at last.

Return the battered and fried spareribs. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce boils again.

Mix well. Finished. Transfer the content to a serving plate.

Picture of the finished dish.

(Note: The quantity of food made in this recipe is about three times the portion shown in this picture.)

[prasantrin]

Finally! Just the one I've been waiting for!

Question...Japanese tomato sauce is a bit odd tasting (to me), so I'd prefer not to use it. Would you suggest I make my own instead? My usual tomato sauce is drained crushed tomatoes, lightly cooked with a bit of garlic and some herbs. I could blend it a bit to make it smooth, or add some of the drained liquid to make it more...well...liquidy.

I finally made mabodofu (I just finished eating it!) and it was great! I'm not used to cooking with such high heat, though, so I burned my fingers a bit. Such is the price to pay for good food!

[hzrt8w]

Question...Japanese tomato sauce is a bit odd tasting (to me), so I'd prefer not to use it.  Would you suggest I make my own instead?  My usual tomato sauce is drained crushed tomatoes, lightly cooked with a bit of garlic and some herbs.  I could blend it a bit to make it smooth, or add some of the drained liquid to make it more...well...liquidy. 

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You can use ketchup instead of tomato sauce. Hopefully their ketchup is not odd tasting? Any way for you to get Heinz ketchup where you are? If you do use ketchup, adjust for it and put a bit less salt and vinegar in the dish.

You could make your own tomato sauce, but it seems to take a lot of efforts.

Edited April 23, 2006 by hzrt8w (log)

[infernooo]

Question...Japanese tomato sauce is a bit odd tasting (to me), so I'd prefer not to use it.  Would you suggest I make my own instead?  My usual tomato sauce is drained crushed tomatoes, lightly cooked with a bit of garlic and some herbs.  I could blend it a bit to make it smooth, or add some of the drained liquid to make it more...well...liquidy. 

←

You can use ketchup instead of tomato sauce. Hopefully their ketchup is not odd tasting? Any way for you to get Heinz ketchup where you are? If you do use ketchup, adjust for it and put a bit less salt and vinegar in the dish.

You could make your own tomato sauce, but it seems to take a lot of efforts.

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Hi hzrt8w,

If you have the chance, could you please list the ingredients of the Del Monte Tomato Sauce that you used? Also, the amount of sugar per serving and the serving size (listed on the nutritional panel on the back). That way we can find something that would be very similar where we live... . If it's a pain or you don't have a spare can lying around, don't worry about it.

Thanks!

[hzrt8w]

If you have the chance, could you please list the ingredients of the Del Monte Tomato Sauce that you used? Also, the amount of sugar per serving and the serving size (listed on the nutritional panel on the back). That way we can find something that would be very similar where we live... . If it's a pain or you don't have a spare can lying around, don't worry about it.

←

Getting a can is a piece of cake. I have 2 dozens of them in the pantry. Getting a magnifying glass to help me read the label is a pain!

Del Monte Tomato Sauce

Net weight: 8 oz (227 g)

Ingredients: tomato puree (water, tomato paste), salt, corn syrup, dried peppers, citric acid.

Serving size 1/4 cup (61g)

Amount/serving:

Sugars 4g

Hope this is what you were looking for.

[infernooo]

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for!

It seems that it is just pureed tomatoes with a bit of salt and sugar added, easy to buy at the local supermarket. It doesn't appear to be sweetened very much either (pureed tomatoes naturally have about 4% sugar from memory, so that is pretty close to normal canned raw pureed tomatoes).

Thanks again!

Edited April 24, 2006 by infernooo (log)

[CFT]

I think the tomato sauce is pretty similar to Italian passata (sieved tomatoes); I used it at the weekend to make Imperial Prawns, except that I didn't use stock or wine (I need to get some).

[prasantrin]

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for!

It seems that it is just pureed tomatoes with a bit of salt and sugar added, easy to buy at the local supermarket. It doesn't appear to be sweetened very much either (pureed tomatoes naturally have about 4% sugar from memory, so that is pretty close to normal canned raw pureed tomatoes).

Thanks again!

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Hey! I can get Hunt's tomato puree in Japan (though I still can't find Hunt's tomato sauce). Could I just use that and add a bit more sugar? I found using ketchup, as suggested by hzrt8w, results in a slightly odd-flavoured sweet and sour sauce (that's what I used the last time I tried making it), so I'd rather go with something a little "purer".

Edited to add:

I forgot to ask. Can sweet and sour sauce be frozen? I prefer making full batches (rather than 1/2 recipes), but there's no way I'd be able to finish it all. But if I could freeze it, I'd be set!

Edited April 24, 2006 by prasantrin (log)

[ash123]

Thanks a lot Ah Leung. This is just what I was looking for. Call me American , but I love sweet 'n' sour... and the blend of the flavors in this dish particularly looks excellent. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I am already craving to make this now.

I also saw your pictorial for the green beans. They look quite good too. I have to try that. There are so many things that I have to try now... the list is getting bigger and bigger. I am really glad you are sharing pictorials for the veggies too. I love Chinese beans and greens. BTW, would you have recipe for Chinese broccoli? I have a bunch lying in my fridge and was wondering how to cook them? I usually blanch them in hot water and then saute' them with little oyster sauce, soy sauce mixture. Are there couple of standard ways to make Chinese greens?

Thanks!

Ash

[Kent Wang]

Pictorial Recipe

Sweet and sour pork ribs

This is not the sweet and sour style that you see in American Chinese restaurants with the unnaturally bright orange sauce. This is the traditional sweet and sour style from Shanghai that uses rice vinegar which produces a rich brown color.

Serving Suggestion: 3 - 4

Ingredients:

- 2 lb pork ribs

- rice vinegar

- sugar

- soy sauce

- Chinese cooking wine

- starch

- baking soda

You will need pork ribs that are sliced about an inch wide, which may be difficult to find outside of an Asian supermarket. You could use bigger unsliced cuts but you won't be able to eat the ribs with just chopsticks -- and using one's hands would be barbaric.

Slice between each rib.

Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, starch, baking soda.

Mix well, marinate overnight.

Grease pan.

Brown the pork ribs on high heat. This pan is a little crowded; a wok may do a better job.

Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar. Don't be shy with the sugar, you'll need about half a cup.

Add water to submerge. Turn heat down to medium, cover and braise for 30 minutes.

Done!

Edited May 28, 2007 by Kent Wang (log)

[mrsadm]

This looks delicious. What is the "starch" that you use?

[Dejah]

Kent,

It's great to see you "take up the torch". To provide regular pictorials as Ah Leung did is quite an undertaking.

The ribs look very meaty. I try to get ribs labelled as "sweet 'n'sour ribs", or I'd have to bring out my cleaver to cut up the bigger slabs.

Was the meat tender after braising for 30 minutes? I guess the marinating overnight with baking soda would act as tenderizer.

[Kent Wang]

The starch that I use is tapioca starch, though one can also use corn starch.

Yes, the marinating with the vinegar and baking soda makes it quite tender. 30 minutes has always been sufficient for me, but you can always experiment with different braising times.

[Prawncrackers]

Was the meat tender after braising for 30 minutes? I guess the marinating overnight with baking soda would act as tenderizer.

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I was wondering this too. Are they fall of the bone tender or are they still quite meaty? I like them when the bones are tender enough to chew and suck out the marrow.

[judiu]

Kent, your text says baking powder, but your picture shows baking soda. Which is correct?

[Kent Wang]

Oops, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate. I have edited the post.

I was wondering this too.  Are they fall of the bone tender or are they still quite meaty?  I like them when the bones are tender enough to chew and suck out the marrow.

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They're still quite meaty, but cooked to a point where the meat separates from the bone and can be completely removed without difficulty. The marrow cannot be sucked out. While I like very tender ribs, my mother has always prepared this dish to this moderate level of tenderness. If the meat were falling-off tender then it would also be difficult to handle with chopsticks.

[Ben Hong]

Kent, I see you are using back ribs, not side ribs. With back ribs you do not have to use any tenderizing agent like bicarb. because they are inherently very tender. Back ribs are great for tenderness and meatiness. Side ribs are what most restaurants use and personally I prefer them because even though back ribs are tender, they are much too meaty and lean. Besides, they don't have that greasy chewiness that I can get from side ribs.