Braised Pork Ribs with Aged Kimchi. In Korean its called deung-kalbi-kimchi-jjim (등갈비김치찜). It’s a fabulous dish to make if you have aged kimchi sitting in the fridge. After a month or so, kimchi begins to develop a deep sour smell and taste. This translates to great flavor when cooked in a stew. Throw in some pork ribs and you got yourself an all-inclusive meal.
This was one of my favorite comfort meals when I was young. I loved splitting the long cabbage pieces with my fingers and placing it onto a heap of rice. Then gnaw away at the ribs! If you enjoy cilantro, I would recommend throwing in some into the stew. My mom tried it once and I LOVED the combination. Here, in Korea – most people DETEST cilantro. So I purposely excluded it in the video. But if I was cooking it for myself, I would garnish with it 😎
Cooking note: Most of the flavor from this stew comes from the kimchi itself. Thus, its hard to prescribe exactly how much gochugaru, soy sauce or etc is required – depends on how salty or spicy kimchi is. However, it should take you 90% of the way to flavor town. Feel free to add a little bit more of any specific ingredient to taste.
Braised Pork Ribs and Kimchi
Ingredients
- 600-800 grams Baby Back Pork Ribs
- 2 Tablespoons Mirim (Soju or sake works too)
- 1/4 whole Aged Kimchi
Pork Ribs Seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon Gochugaru
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 teaspoon (!) Sesame Oil
- 1 teaspoon (!) Mirim
- 5-6 shakes Black Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
Stew Broth
- 2 cups of Anchovy-Kelp Broth
- 1/3 cup Kimchi liquid
Stew Garnish
- Handful of Spring Onion
- Few shakes Sesame Seeds
Instructions
Prep and Blanche Pork Ribs
- Thoroughly wash each rib under running water. Then fill a pot with water. Place in 2 Tablespoons of Mirim (this helps remove that porky smell). Bring the pot up to boil. Once its boiling, place in the ribs. Then wait for the water to come back up to boil. Once it does, drain the ribs through a strainer. Give each rib one more rinse under running water. Set aside to drip-off excess water.
Make Anchovy Kelp Broth
- We will need some anchovy-kelp broth. Make it from scratch or use a broth bag. (Note: We'll need 2 cups of broth - so start with about 3 cups of water when making the broth as some of it will evaporate while boiling away)
Season Pork Ribs
- Place the blanched pork ribs into a mixing bowl. Add-in Gochugaru (1 Tablespoon), Soy Sauce (1 Tablespoon), Sesame Oil (1 teaspoon), Mirim (1 teaspoon), Black Pepper (5-6 shakes), Minced Garlic (2 Tablespoons) and Honey (1 Tablespoon). Stir-it around with your hands and get an even coating.
Prep Kimchi
- Cut your 1/4 whole piece of Kimchi in half. Don't cut off the stem piece just yet or else the leaves will separate and turn messy when cooking (reference video).
Make Stew
- Take out a large pot. Place the seasoned ribs to one side. Then add in the two kimchi pieces. Add-in 2 cups of Anchovy-Kelp Broth. Then 1/3 cup of the leftover Kimchi Juice.
- Place the lid onto the pot and put it on a high heat. Once it comes to boil, reduce the heat to a LOW heat. We will reduce the stew on a low heat for about 45-50 minutes. Every 10 minutes, give it a stir to prevent any ingredients from sticking to the pot and burning.
- After 45 minutes, check on the stew. The pork should be ultra-tender and pull-apart easily. Garnish with a few shakes of sesame seeds and spring onion.
- Before serving, snip off the stem from the kimchi pieces. Then serve with a bowl of fresh hot rice! Bon Appetit.
