1 lb Spareribs
1 Clove garlic, minced fine
2 tb Salted black beans
1 tb Fresh ginger, minced
1 ts Dark soy sauce
1 tb Cornstarch
1 tb Sherry
Here’s a couple of simple, good recipes that use black bean sauce.
Just in case you don’t know, these black beans are the Chinese
fermented black beans. They’re extremely salty++and should be rinsed
before use++ and have a very nice, savory taste that blends well with
many foods. Very common in Chinese markets and I’ve seen bottles of
ready prepared black bean sauce in supermarkets in the Oriental food
sections. Just substitute the deep fried tofu cubes for the meat in
these recipes. One of these recipes is for pork spareribs and one for
prawns. They’ll give you an idea of how the beans are combined with
the other ingredients to come up with the sauce.
Yield: 4 servings
Preparation: Have butcher cut spareribs into 1-inch pieces. Trim off
fat. Place spareribs in a heat proof dish. Wash and rinse black beans
2 or 3 times, then mash them with garlic, ginger, soy sauce,
cornstarch and sherry. Mix with spareribs.
Cooking: Place heat proof dish on steaming rack in wok. Add water to
bottom of wok. Cover. Steam for
30 minutes.
Do-ahead notes: Do through preparation.
Comments: Spareribs can be left in the steamer for 2 hours if dinner
is late. Substitute bean sauce for salted black beans++and
abracadabra! Mein See Jing Pie Quat! (Steamed Spareribs in Bean
Sauce.)
From “The Chinese Village Cookbook.” A practical guide to Cantonese
country cooking. Rhoda Yee, Yerba Bueana Press, San Francisco. 1975.
Yields
2 Servings