Sweet and Sour Pork Rib

Ingredients:

• 2 kg pork spare ribs bone in, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 1 medium shallot, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 ts fish sauce
• 2 ts sugar
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, diced into small cubes
• cornstarch mix: 1 ts cornstarch 2 tbs water, stir into a slurry
• 1 ts white vinegar
• 1 ts sugar
• green onions, chopped
• thai chili, chopped (optional)
• cooking oil
• water

Directions:

• Briefly marinade the spareribs with fish sauce, sugar, and garlic–a few minutes will do. In a large saute pan or wok on medium high, heat about 2 tbs of cooking oil and add the shallots. When fragrant, add the spare ribs and sear until edges are golden brown. Then add enough water to just cover the spareribs and cover lid and reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer for about 25-30 minutes.  This will tenderize the ribs–the longer you simmer, the more tender. We like a bit of chewiness so we can gnaw it off the bone.
• The water should now be slightly reduced. Add the diced tomatoes and continue to simmer until tomatoes breakdown and thicken. Now add the cornstarch slurry and mix well to thicken the sauce even more. Finally, season the sauce with a pinch of salt or fish sauce and by adding equal parts 1 ts vinegar and sugar, add more if necessary, adjusting to taste–should be, well sweet and sour. Add chop green onions and optional thai chili. Remove and serve with jasmine rice.
• This Vietnamese pork spare ribs dish combines the sour, sweet, spicy and savory flavors we love. We enjoyed this with home made pickled mustard greens along with the pickled mustard green and dill soup–both recipes we’ll post later. A truly finger licking and satisfying Vietnamese meal!