Steamed Spareribs With Sand Ginger （沙姜蒸排骨）

Steamed spareribs with sand ginger is a delicious Cantonese dish. The main ingredients are spareribs and sand ginger. Sand ginger, also known as galangal, is a spicy spice that adds a unique flavor to this dish.

It is one of four types of galangals, a rhizome in the ginger family. Fresh sand ginger is paler in color on the inside and woodier and coarser in texture than standard ginger. As a result, it is more difficult to peel and grate. So, I just cleaned it with a tiny brush and chopped it with the skin.

Fresh sand ginger might not be available at other places, so they will powder form instead. When dried, the flavor becomes a little less intense.

I love how the fresh sand ginger tastes when combined with other spices or ingredients to create the sauce for meat.

Apart from the ribs, I also add glass noodles and yuba or dried tofu skin. The ribs, glass noodles and dried tofu skin absorb all the sauce, enhanced by the flavor of sand ginger and oyster sauce.

You can use sand ginger marinade sauce as a dipping sauce in addition to steaming the ribs.  I marinated the ribs using two to three teaspoons of the sauce. Halfway through, I put the remaining sauce on top of the ribs with one-third cup of water, let it continue steaming until it is done.

After steaming, water will be extracted from the ribs.  To prevent too much water in the ribs, which would reduce the flavor of the sand ginger sauce, and at the same time, I don’t want my ribs to be too dry. This is because the glass noodles and the dried tofu skin will absorb the sauce as well. So, I add a little water halfway through.  If the steamer plate has too much water, you can taste it and add salt to balance it out.

Trust me, this steamed sparerib with sand ginger is simple to make and delicious and is a home-cooked dish suitable for all ages, will definitely boost your appetite.

INGREDIENTS

900g spareribs

30g glass noodles

100g dried tofu skins

80g sand ginger, chopped

5 shallots, chopped

3 bird eye chilies, diced

1 tbsp mince sand ginger leaves (optional)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

50ml cooking oil

1/3 cup of water

 

 

METHODS

1. Combine the cornstarch and water with the ribs. Let it soak for 15 minutes. Wash off the blood and drain it for later use.

2. Chopped the shallots and the sand ginger.

3. Slightly mince the sand ginger leaves.

4. Combine all the ingredients (step 2 & 3) in a heatproof bowl.

5. Heat up some oil in a saucepan, once the oil starts bubbling

6. Carefully pour the oil into the bowl of mixed spices. The oil will bubble for a few seconds and cook the spices. Then add the oyster sauce and light soy sauce, stir with a spoon so that all the ingredients can absorb the flavor of the hot oil.

7. Cut the softened glass noodles and dried tofu skin into short length.

8. Combined the clean spareribs with 2 tablespoon of the sand ginger sauce (step 6) and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Mix it well.

Note: Reserve some of the sand ginger sauce for topping later as well as for the dipping sauce.

9. Put the softened glass noodles on a heatproof plate, followed by the tofu skin and spareribs.

10. Add an appropriate amount of water to the steamer and boil over high heat. Put the spareribs on the steamer rack. Steam the spareribs for 30 minutes or until the ribs are cooked through.

11. Add 1/3 cup of water together with the leftover sauce to the top halfway through and let it continue steaming until it is done.