Sweet and sour spare ribs are a popular and delicious dish, especially for children. Making sweet and sour spare ribs to eat with rice helps prevent boredom due to the combination of sour and sweet flavors, while also providing nutrition for the whole family.
Prepare the ingredients:
Tender spare ribs. Choose fresh spare ribs with pink and red meat. You can test the ribs by pressing them and they should not sink in, indicating that the ribs are fresh.
500g tender spare ribs
4 tablespoons fish sauce
6 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons vinegar or lime juice
Lukewarm water
Vegetable oil, fish sauce, seasoning powder
Garlic, dried shallots, scallions, chili peppers, onions
Chili sauce, tomato sauce or tomatoes, ketchup
Potato starch/cornstarch is also acceptable
Prepare the spare ribs:
Soak the spare ribs in cold water for about half an hour to remove blood. Add some wine and ginger salt to eliminate any unpleasant smells. Cut the ribs into bite-sized pieces.
Marinate the spare ribs:
Place the spare ribs in a bowl, add potato starch and seasoning powder to marinate. Use a moderate amount of potato starch, not too much. The purpose of the potato starch is to coat the ribs and make them tender when eaten.
Fry the spare ribs:
Heat oil in a pan, then fry the spare ribs until the surface of the meat is crispy. Once golden, remove from the pan.
Stir-fry the sweet and sour spare ribs:
Make the sauce: 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon seasoning powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 2 tablespoons sugar
Sour sauce: 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoons lime juice, mix well.
In the pan with the fried spare ribs, add minced purple onion and sauté until fragrant. Add the sauce and let the spare ribs simmer in the sauce, stirring occasionally to absorb the flavors. Add a bowl of water, then simmer for about 20 minutes on low heat until the spare ribs are tender but not falling apart. Then add the sweet and sour sauce and continue to cook until the sauce becomes thick and evenly coats the spare ribs.
Notes on making sweet and sour spare ribs:
The finished spare ribs should be tender but not falling apart, with the meat still attached to the bones.
In the sauce-making step, if you don’t like ketchup, you can use tomato sauce or chili sauce instead. If you don’t like any of these sauces, you can dice some tomatoes and add them. Alternatively, you can use ground cashews for color.
If using vinegar for the sour taste, you can mix both the sweet and sour sauces at the same time. But if using lime juice, it’s better to make the sour sauce separately and add it later, as lime juice will become bitter if cooked for too long. Ground cashews will create a beautiful pink color for the spare ribs compared to the color of ketchup and hoisin sauce.
You can add additional ingredients to the sweet and sour spare ribs such as bell peppers, pineapple, and onions for extra flavor.