If you love Asian flavors, this recipe is special. I’ve served this dish at pop-up dinners and it’s a guest favorite and one of my top 5 personal dishes. From the familiar asian aromatics to the fall-of-the-bone tenderness of a slow braising session, and the rich, spicy sauce, it’s a dish the eats as pretty as it looks, especially with the garnishes.
Despite the seemingly long ingredient list, it’s pretty easy to make and worth a trip to the store for the fresh aromatics and specialty items like Mirin (a sweet, Asian rice wine) or the Gochugaru Korean chili flakes that you might not already have.
It makes a great, leisurely Sunday dinner that fills the house with incredible aromas that will tease your appetite for hours! It’s slow, oven braised for a few hours or if you have the gear, knock this entire recipe out in one hour with a stove top pressure cooker. Sorry, not an Instapot!
Use whatever rice/technique you’re comfortable with or try my “21 method”. It’s 21 minutes of soak time + three, 7-minute cooking stages, so 21 minutes of cooking. With short grain sushi rice, it makes a beautifully sticky, Korean-style rice which I love – especially when drizzled with the Mirin.
Hope you enjoy this recipe, it’s one that built to impress and totally worth the effort!
Equipment
- 1 Pressure cooker optional
- 1 Dutch oven with lid
- 1 sheet parchment paper
- 1 medium pot, tight fitting lid
- 1 small sauce pan
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs Beef short ribs, bone-on - 6-8 pieces
- 2 TBSP Black pepper - ground
- 1 tsp Szechuan pepper - ground
- 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 1 TBSP Kosher salt
- 2 TBSP Beef tallow
Braising liquid
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 cup white onion - chopped
- 2 TBSP Ginger, fresh - sliced
- 4 cloves garlic - chopped
- 1/2 cup Soy sauce - low sodium
- 1 cup Water
Asian glaze
- 1/2 cup Light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Mirin
- 1 TBSP Ginger - grated
- 1/2 TBSP Lemongrass paste
- 2 tsp Sambal Oelek - or chili paste
- 1/2 cup Soy sauce - low sodium
- 1 TBSP Rice vinegar - unseasoned
- 1 tsp Fish sauce
- 1 tsp Corn starch - Make slurry with 2 tsp water
Rice
- 1 cup Sushi rice - short grain
- 10 oz water
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 TBSP Mirin - for after cooking
Pickled Garnish
- 1/2 cup Cucumber - diced
- 2 tsp red fresno peppers - sliced rings
- 1/4 cup Rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Finishing garnish
- 1/4 cup Green onion - chopped
- 2 TBSP Toasted sesame seeds - optional
- 1 pinch Gochugaru chili flakes - optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F
- Season beef well with spice mixture.
- In braising pot over MED/HIGH heat, add beef tallow until melted, sear each side of seasoned beef ribs. Remove and set aside.
- Lower heat to LOW, add whole coriander, fennel and peppercorns to pan, toasting for one minute. Add oil and onion, sautee 1 min. Add garlic for 30 seconds. Add a splash of water to deglaze pan.
- Place beef on top of onion and spices, nestled into one even layer. Add soy. Add enough water to raise the liquid level to about half way up the beef. Cover with parchment paper, then lid forming a tight seal. Place in oven 2.5 hours.
- At 2.5 hours, remove lid and check for doneness. Meat should be jiggly and falling off the bone easily. You may need another 30 minutes here. If so, continued braising without cover and add a splash of water of it's looking too low. You don't want a dry pot!
Pressure cooker alternative
- If you have a stovetop pressure cooker (Fissler, etc): after placing beef and liquids inside, seal lid and bring to 2 bars for 45 minutes.
Pickled garnish
- While beef is braising, prepare your pickled items. Place in a mason jar and refrigerate while beef cooks.
Sauce
- In final 30 minutes, add all sauce items to medium pan except the cornstarch slurry. Bring to low simmer. Turn off heat until just before serving. At that time, turn heat to low, bring back to simmer, adding your slurry, stirring well. This should thicken the sauce within minutes and it's ready to serve.
Sticky Rice (21 method)
- In final 45 minutes of cook, soak rice in bowl of room temp water 21 minutes. Drain and rinse.
- Add rice, water and salt to medium pot, covered. Over MED/HIGH bring to boil, 7 minutes. Turn heat to MED/LOW. Cook covered, another 7 minutes. Turn off heat, staying covered, allow to steam in pot another 7 minutes.
- Uncover, gently fluff (it's sticky!) and pour mirin evenly over top of rice.
Serve
- Serve with rice, pouring sauce over beef ribs on plate. Garnish with pickled items and chopped green onion.
