Smoky Wok

What I love about braised dishes is that more often than not, these dishes are also one-pot dishes. The cooking method used also allows for less time at the stove since after preparing the necessary ingredients and adding the seasoning, the dish is allowed to simmer slowly on its' own. Note though that you should check on the dish occasionally just in case. Today's dish is inspired by the classic Cantonese braised beef brisket with daikon - the method I used is mostly similar except that I did not add star anise and I did not use 'chee hou' sauce - I skipped the star anise as I am not fond of the scent and since I was using spareribs which is a little milder than beef, I wanted to keep the flavours clean. A 'secret' ingredient most Chinese households add into braised meat dishes is rock sugar as the latter creates a tenderising effect for the meat. If you can't find rock sugar, substitute with some brown sugar.



For my seasoning, I like to use dark soy sauce or 老抽 which is just soy sauce that has been fermented for much longer hence it has a deeper flavour. When I saw the lovely organic daikon in the local grocery store, I could not wait to make this easy dish. For some added fragrance, I also threw in a tiny bit of mirin for a slight sweetness that complemented the Shaoxing wine quite well. Of course, the other important elements for this simple dish are the aromatic ginger, scallions and black garlic. For almost all my Chinese cooking, I prefer to use black or smoked garlic as it provides deeper and more aromatic flavours. Do give it a try if you can find some.





Serving suggestion: Steamed rice or Chinese noodles

Ingredients:

3 medium-sized daikon/ radish - skin scraped off and sliced to approximately 1 inch wide discs
4 cloves smashed garlic
1/2 red or yellow onion, quartered
2 stalks green onions/ scallions - smash the white parts lightly and save the green for garnish (sliced angularly)
8 slices young ginger, slightly smashed
1/2 pound worth of spareribs, rinsed and drained
Water for blanching spareribs to remove impurities
Cooking oil

Seasoning:

3 tbsps dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce or to taste
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine or substitute with sake
1 tbsp mirin
1 small lump of rock sugar or 1/2 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
2 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)

1 tsp corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp water (optional)



Method:

Firstly, prepare a pot of boiling water to blanch the spareribs.  Once boiling, place ribs into the water and remove once the surface of the meat turns white.  Drain and set aside.  Discard the pot of water. Clean pot.

Prepare the seasoning above by mixing all the ingredients above in a bowl except the wine and do a taste test.  Add more soy sauce or sugar if desired. 

Heat about 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a deep pan or claypot and once hot, turn heat to medium and add garlic, ginger slices, scallions and onions.  Stir-fry till aromatic. Add in spare ribs and stir-fry around for a bit.  Add the Shaoxing wine.  Add in the daikon slices. 

Pour in the seasoning and bring to a boil.  Cover and let simmer for about 45 minutes, checking occasionally.  If you think the daikon is not soft enough yet, simmer for a little bit longer.  It is alright to 'overcook' braised dishes as for these dishes, the longer the meat sits in the liquid, the more flavourful it gets.  If you prefer a thicker sauce, add a tsp of corn starch mixed with 1 tsbp water after the simmering is done.

Dish out and garnish with green onions (optional).  Serve hot with rice or noodles.