Caramelized Pork Rib Stew with Egg

Have you ever tasted this delectable Vietnamese stew of pork belly with quail eggs? It's very hearty and is great with hot, steamed rice. It's a bit sweet, but oh so fatty. I've replicated it here, without all of the fat. This version is made from pork ribs instead of pork belly. We had it for Father's Day dinner. Yum!

CARAMELIZED PORK RIB STEW WITH EGG
Serves 6

1 kilo pork ribs
1 whole head of garlic, minced
1 whole onion, minced
3 tablespoons minced ginger
1 bunch of coriander; roots and stems minced and leaves rough chopped into 1 cm lengths
2 chili, minced, with seeds (adjust level of spiciness to your liking)
4 pieces of star anise
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
500 ml of coconut water, with or without the meat is fine
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs, hardboiled and peeled (you may substitute with 12 quail eggs instead, if you wish)

PROCEDURE:

1. Prepare the marinade by mixing half the garlic, half the onion, half the ginger, chili, sesame oil, sugar, coconut water, black pepper, star anise in a container with a cover.

I used this brand of coconut water and included the pulp too.

2.  Put in the ribs and marinate for at least 3 hours. Put it in the refrigerator.

3. An hour before you start cooking, drain the ribs and set aside the marinade. You'll use that for simmering the meat later.

4. After an hour, begin cooking by heating some oil in your pan. I used my pressure cooker to ensure the meat is "fall off the bone" soft, so I heated the oil in the pressure cooker.

Brown each piece of meat on all sides. Set aside.

5.  After taking out the browned meat, you'll notice that some bits are stuck at the bottom of the pan, Do NOT get rid of these; these are tasty bits of flavour! In the same pan, sauté the remaining half of the onion until they are caramelised. Add the garlic, the coriander roots and stems, and the ginger. Strain the marinade and add to the pan the ginger, onion, star anise, garlic in the marinade.

6. Add the liquid from the strained marinade into the pan, to deglaze it. Turn up the heat so the mixture simmers, and you can loosen the stuck bits of flavour at the bottom of the pan.

7. Add the browned meat into the pan. Cover and simmer until it's tender. (Follow your pressure cooker's specs. Mine took about 30 minutes. If you are not using a pressure cooker, you may also tenderise the meat by simmering the stew in a covered pot until the meat is very tender. "Fall of the bone" tender, as I said.)

Once the meat is tender, remove the cover. If you see that some of the bones have fallen off, remove these. Also discard the star anise. Taste the stew to make sure it has a balance of sweet and a bit spicy. Adjust flavours as necessary.

Add the hard boiled eggs and simmer for another ten minutes. Add freshly chopped coriander leaves, leaving some for toppings when you serve the dish later. Voila! It's done.

Serve hot with rice. Enjoy!