Spare ribs in black bean sauce

Ingredientsserves 4

Method

1. Put the chopped ribs in a bowl under a running tap for about ten minutes to wash out the blood and soften the meat, then drain and pat dry.
2. Fry the crushed black beans and garlic in a teaspoon of oil for twenty seconds so the bean aroma opens, and cool.
3. Mix the ribs with oyster sauce, soy, sugar, wine and pepper, then the cornflour, then the oil to seal, then the beans and garlic; marinate thirty minutes at least, up to three hours in the fridge.
4. Spread in a single layer on a wide plate with the chilli on top.
5. Steam over fully boiling water on high for ten to twelve minutes until the meat is cooked through and pulls from the bone; over-steam and the cornflour coat toughens.
6. Scatter spring onion and serve with the juices.

Take care

• Contains soy and wheat; oyster sauce contains mollusc (oyster). Pork must be cooked through: small pieces in a single layer get there in ten to twelve minutes, a heaped plate does not.

The story

Spare ribs in black bean sauce is the dim-sum basket Hong Kong families make at home over the rice pot, and the home version is judged by how close it comes to the restaurant one: slippery from the cornflour, tender from the rinse and the marinade. The ten-minute tap-water rinse every chef now recites is a restaurant trick that migrated into home kitchens through television cooking segments in the 2010s.

Same technique

Steamed whole fishPork patty with preserved mustardSteamed egg custard

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.