Passport & Plate - Pork rib stew in tomato sauce with cabbage
Thailand | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Serves 2 (and leave enough room for desserts), see notes below.
1 lb of spare pork ribs (500 g)
¼ cup of smashed garlic
2 cups of chopped fresh tomato, from about about 3-4 large tomatoes Or 16 oz canned tomato
1 lb Cabbage cut in wedges (500 g)
1 generous teaspoon of sea salt
1 generous teaspoon of coarsely grind black pepper
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce – or 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
¼ cup of vermouth
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Cilantro to garnish
******************************************************
Notes on ingredients
Pork spare ribs – I use spare ribs. More specifically, I ask for the part with ‘soft bones’, the portion that has the cartilage. Once everything is cooked down and molten together, I personally love the soft crunch. If that’s not how you like it, get regular ribs. At the very least, get some bones. Bone means flavor.
Tomato – From freshly chopped tomatoes, canned tomato (a small box of Pomi is my current favorite) to even ketchup. How much to use here depends on type of tomato you use.
Cabbage – much or as little as you want. A wedge that can just sit on the palm of your hand is a good start. If cabbage doesn’t float your boat, maybe chunks of carrot. Or use a classic mix of carrot, onion and celery. Cut them in large chunks and brown them slightly as well.
Oyster sauce – or fish sauce. They both add umami flavor which this stew can stand up against. Fish sauce is Asian anchovies.
Alcohol – I have vermouth in the kitchen right now. So that is what I’m using. Chinese rice wine also does the job here.
How to prepare this recipeSeason rib with salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate. Best to do this a few days in advance.
Set the pot on a high heat. Everything will be cooked in the same pot at different stages.
Once heated, add 2 tablespoons of oil and swirl the pot so that the bottom is evenly coated with oil. Pat the ribs dry and sear the spare ribs at high heat. Brown all the rib in single layer on the pot on all sides, do them in batches if need to until golden. Remove the ribs, and set them aside. Here, there should be some fond or brown bits on the bottom of the pot. This adds a lot of flavor to the dish.
Sear cabbage on all sides. I borrow this step from the way my Chinese grandmother make her cabbage stew – Jab Chai. Unlike others, she takes time to sears vegetable before braising them. At the point, throw in smashed garlic as well.
Once the cabbage starts to color, remove them and set them aside as well. Leave garlic in the pot.
Work fast and deglazes the pan with vermouth. Then, lower the heat to medium low and add tomatoes. If using fresh tomato, skin on and chopped – cook it for a little bit until tomato starts to breakdown. If using can, add the whole can of tomato.
Flavor with oyster sauce and taste. The flavor should be mild; everything will intensify again after braising.
Lower the heat to low, simmer it on the stove, covered for 2 hours. Check every now and then to make sure there’s just enough liquid to cover the ribs. Add water if needed.
After 2 hours, add seared cabbage turn to cover with tomato sauce. Meat should be softened but not falling off the bone; cook everything on low heat on the stove for another ½ hours until cabbage softens.
Tear some cilantro to garnish.
Variations
Finish with toasted pine nut.
Skip the cabbage, use just the ribs. Pull meat off the bone. Top them on steel-cut oats and fried egg.
After browning the ribs, add in fennel, oregano, and anchovies. Then add tomatoes. Serve with polenta or crusty grilled bread.
The story behind this recipeI learned this pork stew ‘recipe’ from my mom. Since then, I’ve used the recipe more as a template and less as an instruction, adjusting ingredients depending on what’s available in my kitchen.
My mom who’s a second generation Chinese-Thai started making this dish as an attempt to do something similar to Pork stew at one of the local restaurants our family often visited. The name of it translates to ‘Pork stew in red sauce’.
The dish is originally named ‘red stew’ despite the fact that it contains no tomato and is a similar cousin to the ubiquitous brown gravy in any other Chinese restaurant. The original version served does not resemble any unfortunate sauce thickened by cornstarch. What is served is a full body rich stew thickened with bone marrow and gelatin from the connective tissue molten from the long cooking time. My mom kept this character and added tomato.
At the time she grew up, bottled sauce was becoming readily available.
My mom’s take on this is to use ketchup as a flavoring base. The ‘red gravy’ part of the name inspires the addition of ketchup. Ketchup’s sweet and savory side helps flavor the dish. Since then, I’ve replaced ketchup with fresh or canned tomatoes. Along with tomato from my mom, I still stick with cabbage following the original dish served till these days.
I think a good recipe gets people in the kitchen. A simple recipe inspires the reader to cook, make your own food and eventually have an ability to feed yourself. On the other hand, a complicated recipe expands a cook’s perspective to explore new technique. Either way, a great recipe is one that stuck, becomes someone’s repertoire. Eventually, you internalize it and make that recipe your own.
My mom adds an ingredient, her tomato. I add steps, searing meat and deglazing the pan, largely borrowing from western cuisine. And here it is, pork rib stew in tomato sauce with cabbage.
