#ewew cooks Braised Pork Ribs with Abalone, Scallops & Mushrooms

This was a dish I cooked during the last Chinese New Year (CNY).  Yeah, I know, it's been languishing in my draft folder for months.  I meant to write (and publish) it but then the Movement Control Order (MCO) kicked in and I was preoccupied with writing other posts.

I got the inspiration to cook this dish when I visited my mom for lunch just before CNY.  She made a braised pork ribs dish with pre-fried chicken feet, vegetarian beancurd and dried Chinese mushrooms.  I enjoyed the dish so much that I took the leftovers home.

That made me ask my mom how long the ribs have to be braised in order for it to turn out so tender and was surprised when she told me anything from 40 - 50 minutes will do.  What?!....that's all, I thought it needed hours and hours of braising.

Hmmm, I'm game for that...which inspired me to replicate the dish but tweaking the ingredients slightly (for Chinese New Year).  Since I still had two cans of (gifted) abalone in my pantry, I thought why not...let's bring out that luxurious ingredient.  So, here's my take on Braised Pork Ribs with Abalone, Scallops & Mushrooms.

Ingredients:

1 kg pork ribs, chopped (by the butcher) into about 3-inch lengths

20 dried Chinese mushrooms (large), soaked & cut into halves

15 - 20 dried mini scallops, soaked in a little water

1 can Skylight abalone (which yielded about 10 small ones), halved

1 can button mushrooms (large), halved

10 shallots, peeled & sliced

Oyster, dark & light soy sauce for seasoning
A little oil for sauteing

Preparation:

Preparing the pork ribs is probably the most time consuming part of this cook.  Wash the ribs thoroughly by rubbing the bones to get rid of any small bits of bone fragments (these loose bone bits could arise during the chopping of the bones by your butcher as the bones of ribs are really hard).  I like to trim off the excess fats around the ribs too but you can leave them on if you enjoy a bit of fats in your ribs.

The rest is pretty easy....soak the mushrooms and scallops and halve the abalones and mushrooms (or you can leave them whole if you want a nicer presentation).

Method:

Fry shallots in a little oil till translucent but not browned.  The more shallots the better as they provide the aromatics for the dish and help thicken the sauce too.

Add pork ribs to sear lightly.  You can choose to steep your pork ribs in hot water first to remove the impurities.  I didn't coz this is one case where you can get away with not doing this step since the sauce is darkly coloured and the scum won't be very visible (you can still skim off the scum if you want to).

Next, add the softened dried Chinese mushrooms into the mix.  Pour the dried scallops in together with the water that was used to soak the scallops.

Add the water from the soaked mushrooms as well as the liquid from the can of abalone (but not the liquid from the can of button mushrooms, that you can discard as it tastes sour).  Give it a good stir to mix everything together.

Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for between 40 - 50 minutes (covered) until pork ribs are tender.  I seasoned the sauce with a combination of dark soy (just a little for colour), oyster sauce and light soy.  I will not tell you how much seasoning to use as that depends on how much water you use + the soaking liquid of the abalones can also be salty (depending on the brand you're using).  So, taste, taste, taste.  Underseason at this point as the simmering will cause the sauce to reduce and intensify in flavour.

Add the abalones in around 10 minutes before the end of the cooking period.  At this point taste the sauce and tweak the seasoning to ensure it's right...and to your satisfaction.  And if you think there is too much sauce, that won't be the case as it'll never be enough coz the mushrooms tend to soak up the liquid while sitting idly in the pot.

The ready-to-eat button mushrooms need just 5 minutes to warm up in the sauce.  I added the button mushrooms coz I just wanted more mushrooms in my dish (this ingredient is totally optional).  I'd probably omit this the next time I cook this again as the button mushrooms didn't do anything to the dish.

And there you have it.....my pot of cooked Braised Pork Ribs with Abalone, Scallops & Mushrooms.  Perfect for any celebration with its premium ingredients of abalone, scallops and mushrooms....though I didn't cook it for our reunion makan since my sister-in-law chose to cook a mushroom dish this year.  So, I made it a few days later for my next door neighbour and hairdresser (and kept some for our own consumption, of course).

The pork ribs were delicious and super tender from the braising.  Though anything from 40 - 50 minutes will render it tender, you can cook it for an hour just to be sure (if you're paranoid like me that it won't be tender enough).  It's a perfect dish for the Chinese New Year dinner table as it can be made ahead and reheated at a moment's notice.

I love the mushrooms which absorbed all the flavours in the sauce.  Just look at the disintegrated scallops which helped thicken the sauce as well as give it that lovely umami flavour. ^o^

And then you have the decadent abalones, soft but still with a bit of a bite.  Who doesn't love abalone?  Most of us get to eat it only occasionally, usually during festivities like CNY or during a celebration of some sort. The more, the merrier, when it comes to abalones if you can afford it, I say.

This dish turned out easier to cook than I expected...even easier than my Braised Mushrooms with Abalone & Fatt Choy dish (coz I didn't have to prepare the braising stock with chicken feet separately)....and it tasted better too.  I think this is due to the pork ribs imparting flavour to the braising liquid.  This recipe is another keeper...and looks like it's in time for CNY....next CNY, that is.  But you can try it now for your normal day dinner....even without the abalone, I assure you, it'll taste just as phenomenal. ^.^