Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Steamed Pork Ribs With Salted Plums

Came upon this Chinese blog, ilit kitchen from Piggy's.
Went to a Chinese school until standard two when my dad decided to put me in an English Convent run by the Catholic nuns.
It was a rather traumatic period for an eight-year-old who could not speak a word of English.
But now, I am really grateful for the experience.
I can understand Chinese characters (but cannot, for the dear life of me, write any thing legible in Chinese).
I thank my lucky star and my mum's life-changing example for that.
She was one of the unfortunate ones that was not given a chance to go to school when young but she had heaps of determination to learn to read and write!
She found a way to learn by studying along with her children every evening when they came home with their school work and with the help of a dictionary.
As they were studying Chinese and so that was what she learnt too.
Many years later, when a few of my older brothers and sisters were overseas studying, she put aside a little time every evening to write letters (you know, those endangered species that we post with stamps and take planes rides) to them.
I saw her taking, sometimes, up to three days to compose a short letter, stopping at almost every word to check the dictionary.
I grew up watching her read the dictionary from cover to cover.
I pray that some of her persevering trait had rub off on me!
And also thanks to all my older siblings who left all the Chinese comics, newspapers and novels all over the house, I never lose touch with the Chinese language all through my years of growing up.
Now, I am so glad that I don't have to miss out on all these mouth-watering recipes in Chinese.
Try this steamed pork ribs. It is heavenly and so simply to do... I love salted plums and this dish is just oozing with its tangy aroma and teamed it with pork ribs...another match made in heaven! I did cut down on the amount of salted plums from 8 to 6 because the bottled plums I have is extremely salty.
Go to ilit kitchen for the recipe and if you need any translation let me know (sounds just like a standard-two-know-all!).

Jo

9 comments:

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

i love this dish too! unfortunately my 3 boys prefer ribs with black beans so sometimes i make a plate with a quarter steamed pork ribs with sour plums, n 3/4 with black beans:)

Anonymous said...

Hi Iris here. I can't seem to open the other website. Anyways, I DEFINATELY need translation.

a feast, everyday said...

Terri- em, share d same taste too?

Hi, Iris good to hear fr u :). I just checked the website it is okay now but 4 u it will b useless anyway :p
here's d recipe (I hope Ilit doesn't mind)
500g pork ribs, chopped
6 salted plums (from 8)
2 pieces ginger, julienned
3T rice wine
1/2T chopped garlic (I used 2T 4 mine)
2T light soy sauce
1T worcestershire sauce
1T sugar
1t sesame oil
1T corn flour
pepper to taste
Marinade pork with all d above (except ginger) 4 at least 3 hrs. I let mine sit overnight in d fridge. Scattered ginger on top b4 steaming at high heat 4 20-30 mins. aiyoh, salivating just writing this lah...

Precious Pea said...

I love this dish and the gravy goes so well with white rice. I also throw in some chopped cili padi for some extra kick!

iml said...

Hmm....I can taste it already. Going to have this for tomorrow.

Heather said...

i want!

xmas time u cook again, k?

a feast, everyday said...

looks like this is everyone's favourite dish.
Iris, I 4got 2 mention d chillies. tq precious pea 4 d reminder. Chop 1-2 chillies (chilli padi if u like); steam with d pork n leave some 4 garnish if u want 2 take some pics of d dish :p

Anonymous said...

Aiyo, pork ribs, it's near impossible to dislike, no matter how it's prepped :-)

I love 'em all, as Iris can attest. This one looks particular deadly, with the thinly sliced chilli and the soft tender texture...as I said before...aiyo...

iml said...

I drop by everytime I am having steam pork ribs. Then browse around for some recipe ideas. ThankQ for sharing