Chinese-style Braised Beef Short Ribs

The Savoury Chef Foods’ Taryn Wa shares her recipe for beef short ribs, braised in soy, ginger, and star anise.

Ingredients

3 lbs beef short ribs*

3 tbs vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbs white or palm sugar

1 tbs dark soy sauce

1 tbs regular soy sauce

2 tsp Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1/8 of a small onion, peeled

1 green onion, cut into 1/2″ lengths

1/4″ slice ginger

1/2 piece thai chilli (or more if you like it spicy!)

1/2 piece star anise

1/4″ piece cinnamon stick

Bit of orange zest, peeled with a peeler

1 cup water or beef stock

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 300F
2. Season short ribs with salt and pepper
3. Heat a heavy bottomed, oven safe pot over medium high heat (a dutch oven would be ideal)
4. Sear short ribs on all sides until golden brown. Note – do this in batches and do not overcrowd the pot
5. Add in the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.
6. Cover and put in the oven for 3-4 hours, or until beef is tender
7. Remove beef from the pot, and set aside
8. Skim off fat and strain out the spices and aromatics, discard
9. Turn up the heat and bring the cooking liquid to a boil
10. Reduce the liquid until it is a sauce like consistency and can almost coat the back of a spoon. Turn down the heat to medium low
11. Return the short ribs to the pot, turn the ribs and spoon over the sauce to glaze the ribs. **
12. Remove the ribs and spoon the sauce over them
13. Serve with rice and your favourite vegetable ***

*Ask your butcher to cut the ribs into 2″ pieces

**Ribs can be cooled and refrigerated to be served later on. Just add a bit of water when reheating!

***I like to add blanched baby carrots and chunks of daikon or baby turnip to the pot after removing the ribs, glazing the vegetables in the sauce

Alternate cooking methods:

1) This dish can be made in a crock pot!  Sear the beef the night before, put everything in a crock pot and in the fridge.  In the morning before you leave for work, turn on your crock pot to low and come home to tender, falling off the bone short ribs!

2) This dish can be made entirely on the stovetop.  Instead of putting the pot in the oven, simmer the beef, covered, on the stove over low heat for 2-3 hours.