#ewew cooks Braised Nam Yue Pork Ribs with White Radish

Remember I once said that cooking for a Chinese New Year reunion makan is not the right time to dabble in a dish that you've not cooked before in case it doesn't turn out as expected.  Well, I didn't heed my own advice...and did that this year.

I got the inspiration to cook this dish of Braised Nam Yue Pork Ribs with White Radish from an episode of Home Dining that I watched, the recipe which I tweaked and simplified, of course.  White radish goes by many names....daikon, pak lo bak, Chinese radish, white carrot, icicle radish or Chinese turnip...and nam yue is red fermented bean curd.

Ingredients:

1 kg pork ribs, yields about 10 - 12 pcs cut into 3-inch lengths
3 pcs of red fermented bean curd cubes, mashed with 3 tbsp of the liquid 
1 large radish, roughly cut into pieces
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 red chillies, deseeded & sliced
10 dried mini scallops, soaked in a little water
10 cloves of garlic, peeled but leave whole
A knob of ginger, sliced thickly
Sesame oil, for searing the ribs

Preparation:

Mash 3 pcs of red fermented bean curd cubes together with 3 tbsp of the reddish liquid.  These fermented bean curd cubes are salty in nature, so I started with 3 pcs (as they looked like rather big pieces to me) since we don't know how salty they are.  It's always good to start with less and tweak it later coz once it's too salty, it's too far gone and will be difficult to turn it around.

Rub the pork ribs with this paste and leave it to marinate for a few hours (or overnight) in the fridge to infuse the flavours into the meat.

Get ready the rest of the ingredients of radish, onions, tomatoes, dried scallops, garlic, ginger and chillies.

Method:

Saute the whole garlic cloves (don't worry, these will break down through braising later) and thick slices of ginger (to be fished out later when the dish is done) in some sesame oil till fragrant.

Add the marinated pork ribs to sear lightly.  The cook actually used anka which is some kind of homemade red yeast wine I was made to understand.  It looked a lot like nam yue (to me), so I substituted the ingredient and used that instead.

Add all the other ingredients in....radish, tomatoes, onions, chillies and the dried mini scallops (together with the water that the scallops were soaked in).  Pour the rest of the marinade (left from marinating the ribs) in as well.  Top up the pot with water to at least submerge the ribs (I added about 300 ml).  You can use some Shaoxing wine if you like it a little boozy, after all the chef used beer for the braising liquid + the red fermented bean paste also contains hints of rice wine.  Do note that there'll be a bit of scum from the pork ribs once the pot starts boiling since the ribs weren't steeped in hot water beforehand.  You can choose to skim it off or not be bothered at all as it'll be hardly noticeable because it's a sauce and not a soup.

Braise everything for 50 minutes to 1 hour (stirring once in a while) until the sauce thickens and ribs and radish are relatively soft.  I followed the chef and put everything in all at once but forgot that he cooked it for only half an hour.  I braised mine for longer (as I'm paranoid that the ribs will not be tender enough), so the radish became soft after half an hour of cook time.  I'd recommend that you either put the radish in later (if you wish to braise your ribs for longer) or cut them up into bigger chunks (a point to remember when I cook this again).  I had no choice but to fish out the radish chunks first (to be added back later) so that they don't go overly soft (though I don't mind them that way either).

By the end of the cooking, the sauce would have reduced and thickened (check that the seasoning is right at this point by adding salt or more nam yue).  I like mine a little less salty, so the seasoning was just right.  The garlic cloves were terrifically softened though they still held their shape.  I couldn't help but use my spatula to mash them up...ooo, garlicky goodness! ^.^

And this was my first attempt at making Braised Nam Yue Pork Ribs with White Radish.  I think it was pretty successful other than the boo-boo of adding the radish too early.  The pork ribs were really tender and if you enjoy the flavours of nam yue (in dishes like fried nam yue pork belly, nam yue fried chicken or loh hon chai), this would most likely appeal to you too.

I love the extremely soft radish chunks even more than the ribs...but that's just me coz radish is one of the things I love to eat especially if they're braised in stews (beef & radish stew comes to mind) or in soups (like radish & carrot soup with white peppercorns). ^o^

The sauce was sufficiently thick and exceptionally moreish.  I wasn't expecting the sauce to thicken so nicely but the softened onions and mashed garlic together with the disintegrated tomatoes and dried scallops contributed to the sauce thickening to a great extent.  Sauces thickened by natural ingredients (and not the use of starch of some sort) are always more pleasant to eat.

My Braised Nam Yue Pork Ribs with White Radish in my easy-to-transport and keep-warm pot, packed and ready for transportation to my sister-in-law's house.

Also ready to go were my roasted chicken wingettes.....

.....and drumettes.  And these were my two contributed dishes for this year's reunion makan.

This is a good dish to cook for Chinese New Year because of the symbolic reddish colour due to the use of red fermented bean curd.  It's easy to cook as it's pretty much a one-pot dish.  It keeps really well (in fact the flavours improve over time), so it can be made ahead of time and carried to your makan venue and reheated (good as a potluck contribution too).

This recipe is a keeper.  The next time I cook this again, maybe I could make it an even more complete all-in-one meal by throwing in some extra ingredients like dried Chinese mushrooms and hard-boiled eggs.  Sounds good, eh? ^_~