Steamed Chili Black Bean Bitter Melon Pork Baby Back Ribs (紅番椒豆豉苦瓜蒸排骨, Hung4 Faan1 Ziu1 Dau6 Si6 Fu2 Gwaa1 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

Braised pork spareribs and bitter melon with black bean sauce is a classic Cantonese dish. I previously published a recipe using pork short ribs (similar to pork ribs cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces, but with meat above the bone): Braised Pork Short Ribs with Bitter Melon (燴苦瓜豬排骨, Wui⁶ Fu² Gwaa¹ Zyu¹ Paai⁴ Gwat¹). The pork ribs are marinated beforehand, but this certainly does not have to be done if you prepare this dish at the last minute. For this recipe, I steam the ingredients, which decreases the cooking time and gives the dish another taste profile. The only tricky part to making this dish is that you can’t steam all the ingredients together for the same amount of time, otherwise the bitter melon becomes mushy. So the bitter melon is added to the dish in the steamer for the last 5 minutes of cooking to keep the bitter melon’s texture.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1½ lb.	750 g.	Pork baby back ribs (排骨, paai4 gwat1), cut into individual ribs; about 5-7 ribs
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
1	1	Bitter melon (苦瓜, fu2 gwaa1), halved and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Salt (鹽, jim4)
1-3	1-3	Fresh red chili peppers (紅番椒, hung4 faan1 ziu1), cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm) pieces; optional and to taste
		Water for steaming

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Salted black beans (豆豉, dau6 si6)
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press

Equipment

		Garlic press
12 in.	30 cm.	Steamer (or larger)
9 in.	23 cm.	Plate or bowl for steaming
		Plate lifter

Instructions

Pork ribs without bitter melon in steamer plate

1. The number of individual pork baby back ribs needed depends upon the size of your steaming bowl and the need to leave room around the circumference for the bitter melon pieces. For a 9-inch (23 cm.) plate, approximately 5-7 ribs (less than ½ a rack of baby back ribs) can be used. Since pork baby back ribs usually are packaged as a full rack, you’ll use only a portion of the full rack to make this dish. The remainder of the pork ribs can be used for other dishes.
2. Remove the membrane from the back of the spareribs before cutting into individual pieces. Use your fingers or a small knife to poke under the membrane starting at the end with the largest rib bone and then pull the membrane the length of the spareribs towards the smaller bones. You usually have to do this in stages especially if the membrane doesn’t come off all at once and in one piece. Cut enough ribs from the full rack to fill the steaming plate and leave room around the circumference for the bitter melon pieces (about 5-7 ribs).
3. Marinate the pork in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the pork overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. This step can be skipped if desired (especially if you’re pressed for time).
4. Place the pork ribs into the steaming bowl, leaving room around the circumference to later place the bitter melon pieces.
5. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: wash and lightly crush the salted black beans, and add the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press. Mix the ingredients together and place on top of the pork ribs in the steaming dish.
6. Remove any stems from the fresh red chili peppers and cut into ¼-inch (7.5 mm) pieces. The amount of red chili peppers to use in this dish depends upon personal taste and is optional, so feel free to reduce or increase the amount. Spread the red chili pepper pieces on top of the black bean sauce mixture in the pork rib steaming plate.
7. Wash and cut the bitter melon in half. Using a spoon, remove and discard the pith and seeds from each bitter melon half. Cut 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces from each bitter melon half. Wet the bitter melon pieces and add salt for 5 minutes to remove any excess bitterness. Wash the salt from the bitter melon. The amount of bitterness removed by the salt is proportional to the time before washing from the bitter melon. If you like more bitterness, the salt can be omitted altogether or the time reduced. If you like less bitterness, the time can be increased (after 10 minutes, most of the bitterness will be removed).
8. Add water to the steamer and cover. Bring the water in the steamer to a vigorous boil before adding the plate with the pork baby back ribs and steam on high heat for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium to medium-low and steam for another 20 minutes.
9. Remove the cover from the steamer and place the bitter melon pieces around the circumference of the pork rib steamer dish. You might want to use the plate lifter to remove the steamer plate from the steamer before putting the bitter melon into the plate, in which case the plate needs to be returned to the steamer.
10. Cover the steamer and steam on medium heat for another 5 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, use a plate lifter to remove the plate with the pork baby back ribs from the steamer, and serve with steamed rice.