Braised Pork Ribs with Pumpkin

I bookmarked this recipe from Christine's recipes for quite a while now. I liked quite a few of her recipes especially since I started to bake her egg tarts and realised they were quite good.

Christine Ho is a food blogger who lives in Australia but she has so many easily attemptable recipes for chinese cooking as well as a lot of other homely food that you can try at home which is what I like about the recipes.

In case you are curious about her book, here is how it looks like. 

I believe it's readily available online although you may not see it in some of the stores near to you. Please note that I do not have commission of any form from her but just simply recommending a good cookbook to peeps who love to cook or bake.

The idea of the sweetness of pumpkins together with the meaty flavour from pork as well the spicyness from the black beans tantalizes my tastebuds for a one dish meal. 

The recipe below is from here. See my modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

• 330 gm pumpkin, peel and deseeded
• 320 gm pork ribs
• 2 tsp black bean garlic sauce (I used spicy black bean sauce for that spicy flavour)
• hot water, to adjust

Marinade:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp Shaoxing wine
• sesame oil, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Thickening:

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar 
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 2 Tbsp water
• a dash sesame oil

Method:

1. Rinse pork ribs and drain well. Cut into chunks, about 1 1/2 inch in length. Mix with seasoning for 30 minutes. Cut pumpkin into 2-inch chunks.
2. Heat oil in a wok or deep frypan. Sauté black bean garlic sauce over medium heat until aromatic. Add pork ribs and cook until lightly brown. Add hot water, just cover the pork ribs and bring it to a boil. Simmer on low heat until tender. Test it with a chopstick. You can insert a chopstick into the meat easily, then it’s soft enough. Add pumpkin to cook until softened. Replenish hot water if necessary. The amount of water you add depends on how high the power of your stove. And the cooking time would also depend on how soft the pumpkin you like. Yet, don’t overcook the pumpkin. When all ingredients are cooked and softened, about one third of water left with pork and pumpkin, pour in thickening and cook the consistency to your preference. Dish up and serve hot.

For the main ingredients, I didn't really weigh them but mainly use agar-ation (which clearly means estimation). I used mainly half a pumpkin and a pack of about 500g pork spare ribs.

This dish is good for those who just want to cook a simple one dish meal but yet don't want much fuss. Mr G asked for more rice to go with the braised pork ribs so I figured it is pretty awesome. Do try it!