Japanese Style Braised Pork Ribs

Most of the Japanese dishes that I have come across make use of the pork belly, a cut that i must agree makes the most delicious dishes.  But it is also one that i rarely buy mainly for health reasons, i have this weird notion of those glorious fats transferring from porky's belly to mine when i eat them!  So, I normally go for the ribs instead.

This braised spare ribs recipe is from a book named The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo.  This dish is known as Supearibu no Nikomi in Japanese.  Supearibu does sound like spare ribs doesn't it? Well, it is!  And Nikomi means stew.

I would describe the taste as something similar to Chinese style barbecued ribs with a tinge of spiciness and less sticky. We had it with rice for dinner but it would do well as a finger food served with some cold beer too.

Recipe
Source: The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds pork spareribs (400g)
• 3 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce) (1 1/2 tbsp)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon toban jiang (chili-bean sauce)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey (1 tbsp)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (1 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup sake (rice wine)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (1 tbsp sugar)
• 3 tablespoons komezu (rice vinegar) (1 tbsp)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Steps

1. Cut the meat into individual ribs.
2. In a bowl, combine 1 tablespoon of the shoyu, the Worcestershire sauce, the chili-bean sauce, and the honey. Marinate the spareribs in this mixture for 30 minutes. I left if for 1 hour.
3. Remove the spareribs from the marinade, and discard it.
4. Heat a medium skillet, and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the spareribs. Cook them over medium heat until all sides are brown. Remove the spareribs from the skillet, and set them aside.
5. Into a medium pot, put the spareribs, sake, sugar, and 1/2 cup water. Bring the mixture to a boil, and cook it over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes.
6. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons shoyu and the komezu to the pot, and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, basting the spareribs several times with the cooking liquid. (I let it cook until the sauce was just enough to coat the ribs)

Note: My variations in blue.

And like they say in Japanese, Itadakimasu!

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest # 1 Oct 2013 : Japan hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies 

and this post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Doreen from My little Favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post