- 500gm spare ribs
- 3 pieces dried plum (“Hua Mei”)
- 2 tbsp rice wine
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp black vinegar
- 30gm rock sugar (smashed to small pieces)
- 8 sliced young ginger
- 1 tsp diced spring onion
- 1 tsp white sesame seed
- 300 ml water
- 1½ tbsp oil
Method
- Chopped ribs into 3inch pieces
- In a pot, add cold water and 4 slices of ginger. Place ribs into pot and bring to a boil. Turn to medium-low heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Then drain, wash ribs and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine plum, rice wine, soy sauce and black vinegar and mix well. Add water to the mixture and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Add 1½ tbsp oil into inner pot. Select “Steam” function and adjust timing 30 minutes.
- Heat oil, then add in rock sugar. Stir until sugar dissolved and slightly caramelised
- Add in ribs to the mixture and stir to evenly coat the sugar to the ribs. Add remaining sliced ginger and sauce mixture (Step 3) and stir well.
- Close lid and let it cook in the remaining time.
- Once cooking time completes, add in black vinegar, white sesame seeds and stir well. Sprinkle diced spring onions and ready to serve.
Tips :
- Boiling ribs with cold water maximize the removal of blood and odour. Before boiling the ribs, you may soak the ribs with cold water for a few hours for better result in removing the blood and odour.
- If you can’t find dried plum “Hua Mei”, you may replaced it with Japanese plum but not sweet plums
- It is important to pay close attention when cooking the sugar. Once sugar dissolves and start caramelising into golden yellow colour, that is the right time to add in the ribs to avoid burning the sugar.
- At the final 1 minute, do check the ribs that the sauce is boiling and sticky in order to evenly coat the ribs without excess moisture.
- You may add a few drops black vinegar earlier if you want extra sourness to this dish.