Sweet and Sour Ribs (Tang Cu Bai Gu)
Not to be confused with the more common, bright-red and sticky sweet and sour sauce coating fried, breaded pieces of pork, this is a Hunan specialty as described in The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook from Fuschia Dunlop.
I modify this recipe slightly because I wasn’t keen on doing too many steps and I’m not keen on asking the butcher to cut the spare ribs into bite-sized pieces (they may charge me for labour cost!) but the result is wonderful thanks to the sauce: it’s sweet, sour with an end alcoholic note coating the meat.
Ingredients:
350 g pork chops (called Kotelett), de-boned and cut into small pieces.
2 thumb-sized fresh ginger: one thinly sliced and the other crushed
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
4 scallions, white part only, crushed
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
4 tsp dark soy sauce
8 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp Chinkiang Vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
Oil for frying
Salt to taste
Directions:
Heat a pot with oil and deep fry the meat until golden brown. Set aside.
Pour off but 3 tbsp of oil and reheat over high flame. Add the crushed ginger and remaining scallion and fry until fragrant. Add the remaining soy sauce, and sugar. Simmer the sauce until it is reduced to a glaze. Season with salt if necessary.
Add the fried meat and the remaining vinegar and let simmer until the pieces are fused with the flavours. Off the fire, stir in the sesame oil and place on a bed of steamed bitter green such as choi sum.
The recipe is also on
Delicious! What a great recipe! Hope you can come over and share this yummy dish over at Foodista.com - the cooking encyclopedia everyone can edit. Would also love a link to this post from our site.(This will direct Foodista readers to your blog)Here’s how you can create inbound links from our site Check it out here. This is a great way for you to build blog traffic and connect with other food lovers! See you there! Thanks!
V: Thanks for visiting. I’ll check it out.
Comment by Alisa@foodista — 19 February 2009 @ 4:25 pm
I think you have a fantastic blog! I am enjoying your recipes!
V: Hi Shelly, thank you for your kind words.
Comment by Shelly — 19 February 2009 @ 4:30 pm
your photography is fabulous! would love to see you submitting your posts to tastespotting!
V: Hi Sarah, thanks for the kind comment. Will submit.
Comment by sarah — 20 February 2009 @ 10:45 am
I love this dish, you are making me craving for it now.Is Chinkiang Vinegar the red one? Great that we can find all these ingredients in Basel.
V: Hi Janet, it’s the black one.
Comment by Gourmet Traveller — 20 February 2009 @ 1:33 pm
My Mom made it this way. I detest that orange crap. Can not wait to see i fit is like hers; sure sounds and looks right. It was a dark sauce and so flavorful. Thanks
V: Hi Swisschard, your welcome. The orange thing is a different dish I believe but I agree, it can be so mangled it is horrible.
Comment by SwissCharrd — 22 February 2009 @ 12:47 am
This looks like a fantastic dish! Bookmarked: thanks!
V: You’re welcome.
Comment by [eatingclub] vancouver || js — 4 April 2009 @ 6:29 am