Every bit comforts me. That’s today’s recipe – sweet and sour ribs. It is a quite popular dish in China, named after the taste. Sweet and sour is a traditional Chinese flavor taste loved widely. It is a well-balanced sauce that combines soy sauce, sugar, and Chinese black vinegar. Let’s learn how to make the perfect sweet and sour ribs with a simple process at home.
Restaurant vs Home version
For restaurant-style sweet and sour ribs, spare ribs are first marinated and then deep-fried in hot oil for less than 1 minute. This step creates a crispy surface and a tender inner part, at the same time, ribs are almost cooked.
In this home version, we simmer the ribs along with the sauce and then thicken the sauce at the last stage. The texture is slightly different from the restaurant version but quite comforting.
Traditional Sweet and Sour Taste
Sweet and sour is a popular taste in many Chinese cuisines. But it has several versions. Some of the sweet and sour sauce calls for ketchup to create a more fruity sour taste.
However, for this recipe, we use black vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar color (dark red rock sugar color) to create a bright red color.
Sugar color (糖色) is melted sugar with oil or sometimes with water, usually presenting a red dark color. This cooking method is also used in many other dishes like this red braised pork belly. Compared with the color bought by light soy sauce or ketchup, sugar color has stronger viscidity.
Instructions
Step 1. Blanch the ribs
Cut ribs into 1-inch to 1.5-inch sections. Load a wok with cold water, add the ribs, ginger, scallion, and Shaoxing wine. Continue cooking for around 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer out and rinse under running warm water. Set aside to drain.
For beginners, I recommend pat dry the ribs with kitchen paper to avoid oil sprinkling.
Now, let’s make a sugar color – Add cooking oil and smashed rock sugar in a wok, and heat over a slow fire. Keep stirring until the sugar melts and turns into dark red.
Add ribs to coat the sugar color, and place light soy sauce, and black vinegar. Continue to stir fry for 2 minutes and pour enough hot water to cover. Optionally add star anise to add a naughty flavor.
Cover the lid and simmer for 25 minutes over slowest fire. Stir once or twice in the process.
Turn over the fire to the middle, remove the lids, and start thickening the sauce. Keep stirring at the last stage so the sugar can cool down during the moving and attach to the ribs.
Watch out carefully at this stage, don’t get the ribs burnt.
Add Black Vinegar Twice
Black vinegar will volatilize along with the simmering process, thus we need to add extra black vinegar at the very last stage. This creates a well-balanced sweet and sour taste.
You can sprinkle some toasted white sesame seeds as decoration.
My favorite way of serving sweet and sour ribs is to serve with steamed rice. The sauce will make the very grain of the rice so comforting and delicious.
Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs
Ingredients
Blanch the ribs
- 1 pound spare ribs , cut into 1 to 1.5 inch sections
- cold water to cover
- 4 green onion
- 3 ginger slices
Make sweet and sour ribs
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 35 g rock sugar
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cooking wine
- 3 tablespoon black vinegar
- 1 star anise , optional
- hot water as needed
- 1 tbsp. extra black vinegar
Garnish
- 1/2 tablespoon white sesame seed for garnishing
- Spring onion for garnishing
Instructions
- Cut ribs into 1-inch to 1.5-inch sections. Load a wok with cold water, add the ribs, ginger, scallion, and Shaoxing wine. Continue cooking for around 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer out and rinse under running warm water. Set aside to drain. For beginners, I recommend pat dry the ribs with kitchen paper to avoid oil sprinkling.
- Melt the sugar – Add cooking oil and smashed rock sugar in a wok, and heat over a slow fire. Keep stirring until the sugar melts and turns into dark red.
- Add ribs to coat the sugar color, fry until the ribs are well colored.
- Pour enough hot water to cover. Add light soy sauce, black vinegar and optionally add star anise to add a naughty flavor.
- Cover the lid and simmer for 25 minutes over slowest fire. Stir once or twice in the process.Turn over the fire to the middle, remove the lids, and start thickening the sauce. Keep stirring at the last stage so the sugar can cool down during the moving and attach to the ribs.
- Add extra 1 tablespoon of black vinegar before transfer out. Watch out carefully at this stage, don’t get the ribs burnt.
- Garnish chopped spring onions before serving.
Notes
- When stir frying the sugar color, use slowest fire and keep stirring. Remove the work from fire if the temperature is too hot.
- The ribs should be drained completely before adding to the wok, otherwise the sugar color might splash out.
I only have sweet black vinegar… How do I use it in this recipe?
Sweet black vinegar can work for this recipe.
Hi, I want to make this recipe but I only have sweet black vinegar. How can I use it in this dish or is there a substitute for black vinegar?
Hi Elaine,
What is the difference between black and extra black vinegar. Can you give a sample brand name for each, thanks.
Hi Elaine,
Is the black vinegar same as ChinKiang Venigar?
Hi Cel,
ChinKiang Vinegar is one famous type of Chinese black vinegar. Extra black vinegar usually is aged black vinegar. Extra black vinegar usually is produced by Shanxi province.
Good morning Elaine. I am looking forward to making this recipe and will give you feedback. Thanks for the efforts you have made with explanations.
Hi my names are Douglas kariuki and am an upcoming chinese cook how can i get more reciepes from you i want to train hard also can i get your videos on how to make difrent types of food please
Hi Douglas,
I have uploaded most of my tested recipe on this little blog, so I believe it should be one of the best resources for you to learn Chinese cooking. If you have any question, you can leave me a comment.
Hi Elaine,
lovley recepie fantastic flavor 🙂 …. to give some chrispiness to the ribs my husban usualy steams or cooks the ribs and than he puts them into hot frying pan with little oil and browns little the outer layer than he adds the almost ready souce thats how he brings it all together.
Can you add spicy chili to this to give the flavor some heat?
Hi Debbie,
Chili oil is not recommended. It breaks the balance of sweet and sour sauce.
Awesome recipe. How do you use it with instant pot?
You can fry the ribs firstly and then add all the sauces. Transfer to instant pot and cook a rib or meat procedure. When it is finished, open the lid and re-heat until the sauce is well thickened.
I tried your recipe a couple of times and had a hard time dissolving the rock sugar in the wok under slow fire, both times the sugar turned light brown and hardened(crystallized). Do you have any suggestions/critics? Appreciate any pointers that you may have.
If that happens, I would suggest you adding a small cup of warm water when the sugar turned light brown. Or another potion is when the sugar dissolve mostly, turn off the fire and return it when after adding the hot water.