Chinese Sweet & Sour Pork Spareribs with Honey Ginger Balsamic

Sometimes we throw together a recipe that in the end makes us think our products were made just for that dish. It happened when we made our Dark Chocolate Walnut Fudge with Blueberry Balsamic and now it happened again when we created these spareribs. Our Honey Ginger White Balsamic Vinegar fits this flavor profile perfectly. Because of the complexities in the balsamic vinegar, we were able to achieve a full-bodied sweet and sour sauce with only 4 ingredients – and one of those is water! There are a few steps in this recipe but none are too difficult and you’ll feel good about making this popular Chinese take-out dish a lot healthier and in your own home. Some “fast-food” Chinese places deep fry the meat and add a syrupy sauce at the end. We purposely chose to avoid deep frying; by simmering them in the homemade sauce for 30 minutes we were able to achieve the full depth of flavor without the greasy taste. Healthier and tasty; that’s how we like it!

INGREDIENTS

• 2½ pounds pork spareribs (you can find these already cut up and ready to go at the Asian store – we found ours at Grand Asia in Stallings, NC for less than $8)
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons Olive This! Honey Ginger Balsamic, divided
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• Sesame seeds, as a garnish
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

First make a marinade to coat the ribs. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of Honey Ginger balsamic vinegar and 3 tablespoons of flour. Whisk until well blended.

Add spareribs to marinade and stir to coat well. Let stand for about 15 minutes, mixing occasionally.

Meanwhile, prepare the sweet & sour sauce.  In another medium-sized bowl, mix together ½ cup of Honey Ginger balsamic, ¾ cup of water, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, and ½ cup of brown sugar until well combined. Set aside.

Next, brown your spareribs before letting them cook in the sweet & sour sauce. In a large sauté pan, heat the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil over high heat. When the oil is shimmering, but not smoking, add the 2 cloves of minced garlic. Stir quickly for about 30 seconds being careful not to let the garlic burn.  dd the spareribs that have been set aside marinating.

Cook spareribs on all sides. Do not turn too frequently as you want to keep the ribs untouched long enough to achieve brown sear marks. The high heat helps. It took us about 8-10 minutes to brown the batch of ribs. When the ribs are done, place them on layers of paper towels to drain.

Transfer all the spareribs into a small dutch oven or large sauce pan on the stove. Pour the sweet and sour sauce you made earlier over the ribs and cover. Turn on heat to medium-low and let the spareribs simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes. Turn spareribs about 3-4 times throughout.

While the spareribs cook, work on your thickener. For this dish we used a cornstarch/water mixture, sometimes called a slurry. This is preferred over adding just cornstarch by itself to the sauce which may create lumps. Measure out 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a small bowl (more or less, depending on how thick you want your sauce to be). Add 2 tablespoons of cold tap water and stir well. Set this aside; you’ll be adding it at the end of the cooking time. This slurry mixture may settle so be sure to give it another stir right before adding it to the dish.

After about 30 minutes of cooking the spareribs in the sweet and sour sauce, remove the cover. Grab your cornstarch/water mixture and give it another stir. Add it to the pot in a thin stream while stirring the sauce and ribs with a wooden spoon. Go easy at first, you can always add more as you go. Give the whole thing a good stir and let it cook, uncovered for about 3-5 minutes more. You’ll notice the sauce start to thicken.

Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper, garnish with toasted sesame seeds and you are ready to serve. Be sure to use a large serving spoon so you can pour that thick sauce all over your bed of white (or brown) rice. Enjoy!

SERVES 4

Have a comment?  We’d love to hear from you.  Have you tried this dish?  Do you have a variation that you think others will enjoy?  Leave us a comment below.