Kristina & Chris’ Korean Sticky Short Ribs

These salty-sweet ribs with a thick, dark sauce are perfect for a cold, wintery evening. They take a bit longer to cook, but it’s mostly hands-off time in the oven, so definitely worth it. The recipe’s been slightly adapted from a post on the blog Dinner a Love Story, and there’s a slow cooker version on there if you’d prefer.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1.4/1.5kg of beef short ribs, in pieces about 2-3 inches long, supplied by your favourite butchers at Dorking Butchery
• 200g brown sugar
• 230ml low-sodium soy sauce
• 115ml water
• Red/green chilis to your spice level, roughly chopped (we used 2 green and 1 red)
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2-3 spring onions for garnish, finely chopped

Method

1. Heat your oven to 165°C.
2. Season the ribs with freshly ground salt and pepper.
3. Put the vegetable oil in a large casserole dish with a lid, or in a large pot, and warm up on the hob on a medium-high heat. Next, brown the short ribs in the pan in batches.
4. While the ribs are browning, whisk together the marinade by combining sugar, soy sauce, and water in a small bowl. Once combined, add in the chilli and ginger.
5. After all the ribs are browned, place them all back in the pot (on their ends if your pot is on the smaller side) and pour in the marinade. Make sure the liquid covers the ribs more than halfway or fully, otherwise add a mixture of water and soy sauce until halfway up the ribs.
6. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and place inside the heated oven.
7. Cook for 3-4 hours, making sure to flip the ribs about every 30 minutes. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone and the liquid has thickened. If the liquid disappears during cooking, top up with the soy sauce-water mix, and keep your pot covered.
8. Serve topped with a bit of the cooking sauce and the chopped spring onion.

Serving Suggestion

We had our ribs with Thai coconut rice (Thai jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk) and a mix of bok choi and Chinese lettuce for the veg (cooked in a wok with groundnut oil and garlic and topped with sesame oil and a tiny bit of fish sauce).

Chef’s Tip

After eating, you may be left with lots of the cooking liquid. This stuff is too delicious to go to waste, so let the liquid cool in a bowl, remove the top layer of fat, and use to make a nice stir fry later in the week.