Chinese Style Sticky Beef Ribs 滷香烤牛仔骨

It is the second day of Chinese/lunar new year and I can't help but feel a little melancholy with photos of endless banquets and gatherings received from family and friends choking up my inbox..... well it is business as usual here and I just had a sandwich for lunch.

Since many of you might have made soy poached chicken for the reunion dinner and is left with a pot of master stock, how about another one of my recipes to reuse the stock again?

If you are a non-beef eater, pork spareribs will work equally well just reduce the cooking time accordingly.

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 4 to 6 as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
2kg of beef ribs
1.5 l of master stock (lu shui, 滷水 aromatic soy chicken poaching liquor*)
3 tbs of honey
1 tbs of sugar
toasted sesame seeds

*if you haven't got the soy poaching liquor, this is what you'll need;

1 cup of light soy

1/2 cup of dark soy

6 cups of water

1/2 cup of rock sugar

1 cup of chinese cooking wine

5 cm knob of ginger, sliced

3 garlic cloves

1 spring onion (white part only)

1 cassia bark or cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorns

Remove excess skin and fat and cut into large chunks.

Boil beef ribs for 10 minutes then drain and rinse to remove all impurities. Bring the master stock or lu shui to a boil and add in the ribs. When it returns to a boil, turn it down to a bare simmer.

Cover and simmer until the ribs are tender (~2 hours - 2.5 hours). The stock should be reduce significantly by then. Remove ribs and allow to cool.

Transfer the remaining stock to a smaller pot together with the honey and sugar. Mix well and reduce until the sauce is sticky and syrupy.

Place ribs on a baking tray and put under the grill for 5 minutes on each side. Alternatively you may do this on a bbq.

Baste the ribs with the syrupy sauce several times during cooking.

Place ribs on a platter, pour over the rest of the sauce and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.