Steamed Ribs in Rice Powder with Sweet Potato

This is a Chinese dish I think might be hard to come by in America if you don't live in NYC or San Francisco, or have a Chinese mother. Lucky for you, I've got a Chinese mother and a food blog. You may have had steamed ribs with garlic and fermented black bean sauce before when you have Dim Sum, but this dish is a little different. It's called Fen (powder) Zheng (steamed) Pai Gu (ribs), which are steamed pork ribs that are coated and cooked in a broken rice mixture, or "powder" as the name suggests. The rice cooks as the ribs are steamed and soaks up the delicious marinade and rib juices. It's very rich and so tasty. Sometimes my mom makes it even better by steaming it with some sweet potatoes. The mixture of the salty and spicy richness of the pork ribs with the slightly sweet potatoes are a heavenly combination.

You will need a few special ingredients from your Asian grocery store.

The first is Broad Bean Chile Paste. There are all kinds of chinese chile pastes made from beans but you want to find one that says it's made from Broad Beans. All my life I listened to my Mom complaining how there is not any good Broad Bean Chile Paste available, so she always used this brand in the picture above, but claimed it was not the real thing. My tastes have adapted to this brand of chili paste as my mom used it in everything she cooked (it's great with Mao Po Tofu). Well, the last time I was home she showed me that she found the real thing. Next time I visit her I'll take a picture of the label. The recipe should turn out just fine as long as you use any brand of chili paste that is made from Broad Beans. If you can't find Broad Bean Chile Paste look for a chili paste that is made from soy beans. If you can't find that, then use any kind of chile paste you can find (nothing too sweet), or if you don't like it spicy you can cut out the chili paste altogether, but then it won't taste as good.

The second special ingredient you will need is Zhen (Steam) Rou (Meat) Fen (Powder) or Rice Powder. Be careful as there other kinds of "Rice Powder" out there, one for your face, and one really fine rice powder to make desserts and used as a thickening agent.

The Rice Powder you will need is a coarse rice powder. The kind my Mom and I use comes in slender white boxes with red printing. The ingredients say Gulutamic [sic] Acid, Rice Powder, and Perfume. It's actually roasted dried rice, ground or broken up with spices like star anise and I guess with a little Glutamic Acid added in for some punch. I'm pretty sure your local asian grocery store carries Steam Meat Powder. If not, you can actually make this yourself with some uncooked rice and star anise. Toast them together in a dry pan until the rice is browned, being careful not to scorch the rice. Then grind up the mixutre in a coffee grinder or blender to the consistency of course sand (food processor doesn't work). But that seems like a lot of work, so print out this picture above and ask the asian grocer to help you.

The third special ingredient is not essential but will help in the presentation. Try to get some dark soy sauce from the asian grocery store. It will make the final color of the dish much deeper. But if you can't find this, regular soy sauce will do.

This is my Mom's recipe, or my adaptation of it. Nothing ever tastes quite as good as when Mom cooks it, but this comes pretty close when I make it. Again, my Mom doesn't measure anything, therefore neither do I. This is my best attempt to transcribe the recipe as I make it, but feel free to adjust the ratios to your taste.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 - 2 lb of pork spare ribs or baby back ribs, crosscut into 1-inch strips.
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1-inch pieces
2 packages of Zheng Rou Fen (Rice Powder) (about 1/3 cup if you make it yourself)

1 tsp of vegetable or cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 Tbsps of dark soy sauce
1 heaping Tbsp of Broad Bean Chili Paste (or even more if you like it spicy)
2 tsps of sugar
1 Tbsp of sherry or chinese cooking wine

Method:
Most grocery stores now already have prepackaged crosscut pork spare ribs in the butcher department. If you can't find them, just ask your butcher to cut some whole spare ribs or baby back ribs for you crosswise (across the bones) into 1-inch strips. Rinse the ribs and pat dry. Trim off any excess fat and cut the ribs between each bone into bite size pieces. Place in a bowl.

Heat a small saute pan to medium-high. Add the oil and the garlic and cook until fragrant. Don't let the garlic burn or turn brown! Then add the Broadbean Chili Paste, the soy sauce, sugar and sherry. Stir while cooking for another minute or so until bubbly. Pour this mixture over the rib pieces and mix thoroughly. Let the ribs marinate, covered in the fridge for half an hour to an hour at most.

Bring a huge pot (or wok) of water to a boil, fitted with a steamer basket (metal or bamboo, whatever you got) and lid. After the meat has marinated, sprinkle the rice powder over the ribs and mix to thoroughly coat each piece.

Place the sweet potatoes in the bottom of the steamer basket, then pour the rib pieces on top of the sweet potatoes. Steam for about an hour to an hour and a half, or until the ribs are tender. Remember to check your pot and refill with hot water as needed or else the bottom of your pot will scorch. You can just serve it in the steamer basket transferred onto a plate. It'd be really cute to get those individual bamboo steamers so each person can have their own serving.

All About Apples

Tastingmenu.com is offering a free cookbook for download in pdf format. Chop chop!

El Pollo Feliz

When Gabe was in town, Jenny and I took him to El Pollo Feliz, one of the many Mexican Pollo Rostado (rotisserie chicken) restaurants that are popping up everywhere. It's right in our neighborhood at Airport and Lamar so we always talk about trying it each time we drive by. It was so yummy and cheap! Gabe and I shared a chicken dinner that came with a full roasted chicken (they cut it up for you), potato salad (is that Mexican?), rice with chicken in it (more chicken!), beans, corn and flour tortillas and fresh salsa for $10. It could've easily fed 4 people.

Jenny had a ginormous chicken quesadilla made with the same roasted chicken. I think it was like 2 bucks. I can't say much for the atmosphere, but they sure know how to cook a chicken. Mexicans rock.