Monday, December 1, 2008

Five Spiced Beef Short Ribs & Spicy Broccoli in Chinese Rice Wine


Broccoli. What is it to you?
To me...
- 2-3 pieces of annoyingly raw and tasteless florets always appear beside my fast-food-joint sizzling steak, along with equally annoying pieces of raw and tasteless carrot. Normally I still (really really reluctantly) eat them (out of guilt)
- It is a great supporting actor/extra. It would be nice to see them winning an award for a leading role sometime
- It tastes fantastic with butter, cream and bacon (but what doesn't?)
- When it's done right, the stem is nutty and the florets greedily absorb whichever poison you throw them into (oh yeah...)
- It is a luxury. Despite its anti-cancer fame and its great taste, I hardly choose broccoli for weekday meals because I don't want to spend valuable minutes having to blanch and shock them. On week nights, every second counts!

I wanted to make my broccoli more than just an extra. If it had to play a supporting role...it should flavor its azz off and win the audience's heart.

Five Spiced Beef Short Ribs & Spicy Broccoli in Chinese Rice Wine

The pan fried five spiced short ribs are smoky, sweet-savoury and rich...the broccoli has to be subtle enough not to overpower the ribs, but still flavorful and fragrant enough to be noticed. The Chinese rice wine gives the tang needed to balance the flavor of the ribs.

Recipe
The Ribs
- 1 lb short ribs, cut into pieces, poke all over with fork
The Marinate
- salt
- sugar (salt vs sugar ratio = 1:1)
- ginger powder (or you can use crushed ginger)
- five spice powdera
- white pepper
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- sesame oil
Rub marinate all over the ribs, rest for at least 30 minutes. Pan fry on a hot pan (you almost need no oil, the ribs will release some oil) until you get enough brownage, don't flip them around too much to keep 'em tender, if possible just flip them once (I know how tempting it is to flip and turn and flip and turn. Just tell yourself to STOPPP!)

Broccoli
- 2 small heads of broccoli, cut into small florets, boil for a few minutes with a bit of salt until they reach your desired tenderness, drain and dip them into ice cold water to retain greenage
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 cm ginger, crushed
- 2 small red chilli, chopped (I didn't remove the seeds. I enjoy the extra "bite". If you don't like things spicy, remove core and seeds or omit chilli)
- 3 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- salt, sugar, white pepper, chinese rice wine, a bit of hot water
Saute shallot and ginger, add garlic, chilli, wait until fragrant, add broccoli, season with salt, sugar, white pepper, chinese rice wine, add a bit of hot water to blend everything, bring to boil, drain, serve with the ribs.

Submitting this recipe to Weekend Wokking - Broccoli, created by Wandering Chopsticks, hosted this month by Noob Cook. Check out the round up for some serious broccoliciousness!

25 comments:

Wandering Chopsticks said...

Haha! That's a lot of effort to go to for a vegetable that you only consider a supporting player. ;)

Noob Cook said...

I'm really drooling now at your beautiful creation. What a nice way to use broccoli :D Thanks for your entry! XD

dewi ayin said...

broccoli... huek ;p

Unknown said...

oh my sis the broccoli hater...wat if i wrap it with bacon? or bread it with parmesan and deep fry it? hehe

daphne said...

ooo...give me both of them!!

Jagungmanis said...

Ritaaaaa........
pie kabare?

Anonymous said...

oohhh I'm sorry but the ribs is still the main star for mmeeee mmmmmmmmm yum!

Masak Bareng said...

aku duwe ym, ayo tah ym an...
id ku pindangtempe

Anonymous said...

Rita, km indonesian kan?? khusus resep masakan, kl bhs ing, saya bingung jadinya.. hehehe.. km chef hotel bintang 7 ya? enak2 bgt keliatannya.. trus u juga jago fotonya.. top deh..

Heather said...

yum! that looks great. i love five spice!

Peter M said...

I love short ribs, starting to appreciate chinese 5-spice and adore broccoli...I'm sold!

Rachel said...

That broccoli sounds delicious! Just wanted to let you know that the Grow Your Own roundup is now up on the Crispy Cook. Thank you for your tasty entry.

Jescel said...

i'd gladly partake of your beef ribs and broccoli.. i make it a point to eat broccoli as often as I can- we have breast cancer history in my family (my mother).

Anonymous said...

This looks wonderful, but broccoli has always been one of my favorite vegetables. I use it as much as I can! (My nephew, who apparently takes after me somewhat, will turn down ice cream in favor of broccoli. Strange but true.)

Anyway, if you're willing to incorporate more broccoli into your weeknights, you can use frozen broccoli florets. It takes away a lot of the hassle.

Unknown said...

what a dish!!! broccoli, short ribs, spicy, perfect!!! :) don't forget to pick up your award... :)

Little Corner of Mine said...

Your short ribs look really yummy!

Anonymous said...

Wow great presentation! Not that big fan of Brocolli (can't even spell it hehe) But i do like brocoli soup.. and the way you've done it... I think i give it a try... Thanks for sharing :)

Dwiana P said...

Absolutely delicious!!! I want some please....
If I follow your recipe I don't think it will look as good as yours.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comment, guys...my addiction to 5 spice powder has gone from bad to worse...I may start sniffing it throughout the day...arrrghhh! it's fantastic!

Fearless kitchen, thanks for the frozen florets idea...but sometimes it's hard to choose frozen when the fresh ones are pleading to be purchased T_T ahhh dilemma dilemma...

Hi Bobby, thanks dah mampir...ahh bisa aja bintang 7....bintang kecil ini hehehe

Anonymous said...

Delicious broccoli! The supporting role really shone in this dish! :)

Nina Timm said...

I am sorry I missed this meal, I would have licked out the bowl!Lovely!

Anonymous said...

I love broccoli, especially with some butter. Beef short ribs is another thing I've never had. Oy, I need to catch up with you!

WokkingMum said...

Hmmm... Drooling!! I think I can finish your ribs and broccoli alone. Yummy!

Seriously, have your tried wrapping broccoli with bacon or bread it with Parmesan and deep fry it?! I did.

KC said...

Great ribs.

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Great dish! I can imagine how amazing those ribs taste. Spicy broccoli: yum yum!