Suon Ram Man from Vietnam

Suon Ram Man are caramelised pork ribs.  Vietnamese food is a favourite of mine.  The flavour combinations go so well together.  Our holiday in Vietnam was spent on trying to decide what delicious traditional meal to try next.  It was always hard to choose but I do remember the sticky caramelised pork ribs as being a winner.  The Vietnamese sometimes use coconut water instead of normal water.  Just a warning, the caramelised sugar gets seriously hot so make sure you don't get any on your skin as you can burn yourself pretty badly.

1kg pork ribs cut into pieces
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup white sugar
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 capsicum finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 spring onion finely chopped for garnishing
Put the water and rib pieces into a pot and bring to the boil.  Let it boil for about 5 minutes.  In a hot wok, put in the cooking oil and sugar.  Allow the sugar to caramelise stirring all the time so that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pot and start to burn.  Burnt sugar tastes bitter so you really want to avoid that.  When the sugar has completely melted and is a light-brown colour, add in the pork rib pieces, onion, garlic, capsicum, salt, pepper, ginger, chili powder and soy sauce.  Mix everything together so that the pork ribs are completely coated in the caramelised sugar.  Let the pork ribs brown slightly.  Add in the water the pork ribs were boiled in.  Reduce the heat and allow the rib pieces to simmer in the liquid for 30 minutes.  Drizzle the sesame oil over the ribs and increase the heat slightly, cooking the ribs for a further 5 minutes.  Serve with rice.  Garnish with the finely chopped spring onion.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Kyiv in Ukraine. She is the author of Hush Baby, Defective, C U@ 8, Not Telling and The Case of Billy B. All her books are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format. http://cindyvine.com

Izakaya Pork Ribs from Japan

An izakaya is a Japanese version of a pub.  The sole purpose of an izakaya is for you to drink and talk nonsense with your friends.  As with all pubs, they need to sell easy finger food to go with the alcohol.  So that you keep drinking of course.  Pork ribs or pork belly would be shared with friends tapas-style.  The Japanese would use sake (rice wine) and rice vinegar, however as I don't have either I used ingredients most people would be able to get quite easily.

1 kg pork ribs
Ginger root thinly sliced into finger length pieces
1 onion finely chopped
1 green chili finely chopped
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup sugar
1 stalk celery finely chopped
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 cup water
1 star anise
Cut the rack into individual ribs.  Put the oil in the pot and braise the ribs until they are brown on both sides.  Add the ginger, chili, onions, garlic and sugar and cook until it begins to caramelise.  Add the rest of the ingredients and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove ribs from the pot and place in an oven pan, pour over the liquid from the pot.  Grill at 180 degrees Celsius for an hour, turning the ribs over after 30 minutes.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living in Kyiv Ukraine.  She is the author of Survival Tips for the Suddenly Single, Hush Baby, Defective and The Case of Billy B.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and print format.