Steamed spare ribs with fermented black beans

Steamed spare ribs with black beans is one of the best and well-known dim sum dishes. Normally, the black beans are placed on top of the ribs before steaming but I like to add the beans into the marinade. This will add more flavour to the meat. The children love adding the gravy to their rice.

Spare ribs (排骨) are a variety of pork ribs cut from the lower portion of the pig specifically the belly and breastbone and behind the shoulder. There are 11 to 13 long bones with a covering of meat on top of the bones and also between them. Spare ribs are flatter than the curved back ribs and contain more bone than meat. There is also quite a bit of fat which make the ribs more tender than baby back ribs. Spare ribs (pork) are distinguished from short ribs which are beef. Get the butcher to cut the ribs according to the size that you want.

Ingredients

Bite size pieces of spare ribs

1 spoonful fermented black beans

Marinade

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

½ tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch powder

1 tbsp shaoxing wine

Dash of pepper

Wash and chop the black beans

Put the black beans into a bowl and add all the marinade ingredients.

Mix thoroughly

Wash the ribs in salt water to reduce the porky smell

Put into the prepared marinade and mix well.

Do not add water because the meat will produce liquid during the steaming process.

Cover and keep in the fridge for 2 – 3 hours.

Stir in some chopped garlic just before steaming.

Transfer the pork to a heat proof dish.

Garnish with cut red chilli on one side for the adults (optional)

Stir the chilli into the marinated pork if there are no children eating it.

Bring some water to a simmer in a wok with a steaming rack set in the bottom. 

Put the plate into the steamer

Cover and steam on low fire for 1 hour.

See how much liquid is in the plate now.