Yuzan Steamed Pork Ribs
A Sichuan-style dish of pork ribs trimmed to expose the bone like a jade hairpin, marinated and coated in rice flour, then arranged over sweet potatoes and steamed until tender, glutinous, and richly aromatic.
Ingredients
pork spare ribs (washed, trimmed, and chopped into segments)
750 g
rice (dry-fried and ground into powder)
100 g
sweet potato (peeled and cut into chunks)
150 g
celery (washed, tender leaves only)
50 g
ginger (peeled, smashed, and minced)
15 g
scallion (minced)
15 g
Sichuan peppercorn (minced)
2 g
soy sauce
20 g
fermented tofu juice
10 g
brown sugar syrup
20 g
doubanjiang (broad bean chili paste)
10 g
fermented glutinous rice juice (laozao)
15 g
Sichuan salt
2 g
Instructions
1
Make the rice flour
Add the rice to a dry pan and dry-fry over low heat until it turns pale yellow. Scoop it out and grind it into a coarse powder. Set aside.
2
Prepare the pork ribs
Rinse the pork ribs. Slice along the seams of the meat, then chop into segments about 7 cm long. Trim some of the meat from both ends so the bones are neatly exposed.
3
Cut the aromatics
Peel and smash the ginger, then finely chop it together with the scallion and Sichuan peppercorn using a cleaver.
4
Marinate the ribs
Place the prepared ribs in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the soy sauce, fermented tofu juice, brown sugar syrup, doubanjiang, fermented glutinous rice juice, Sichuan salt, and the minced ginger, scallion, and Sichuan peppercorn. Pour the mixture over the ribs and toss to coat evenly. Add the rice flour and mix until the ribs are evenly coated.
5
Steam the dish
Peel and rinse the sweet potato, then cut into irregular chunks. Spread the sweet potato chunks in a small bamboo steamer and arrange the marinated ribs neatly on top. Cover with the lid and steam over boiling water until the rib meat is tender. Remove the lid and garnish with a few tender celery leaves before serving.
