Dangshen Pork Rib Stew 党参焖排骨 - Pork Ribs #3

Today.... is my first day back to work.
After 5 years of staying home, my child care leave has ended and I'm back to my teaching career.
There are many concerns, particularly about my kids, and my in laws are currently taking care of them while I'm at work. It's going to be tiring as I might work 6 days a week at times.

Cooking will be greatly reduced at home, probably to once or twice a week, as I only reach home by 7.15pm. But this blog will still be running with new recipes weekly. As some of you know, I always have too much back logs to clear. I hope I can still bake in the morning before I leave for work. The blog goes on... as this blog was born back in 2007, when I was teaching.

I tried this dish from an eatery in Sungai Siput that my in laws brought us to. It was pleasant and went very well with rice.

The dangshen lends a sweet flavour to the dish, and it doesn't taste bitter or pungent at all. This dish is considered on the warm side as ginger, red dates and dangshen are in that category according to Chinese beliefs. Since it's a warming dish, it is suitable for port partum confinement as well.

Dangshen Pork Rib Stew 党参焖排骨
by WendyinKK 

500gm pork ribs
38gm 3rd grade* dang shen (Codonopsis pilosula 党参)
10 red dates
20gm ginger (1 big toe sized ), smashed
2 cloves garlic, smashed
40 ml light soy sauce (2 chinese soup spoon)
2 tsp dark caramel sauce
1 heaped tsp cornstarch+2 Tbsp water

1. Rinse dang shen well to remove dirt and remove seeds from red dates.
2. Heat wok and put in 1 Tbsp oil. Saute ginger and garlic until fragrant. Put in pork ribs and cook until the surface turns opaque. (if wok is very hot, won’t take long).
3. Transfer everything in wok into a small pot. Put in dangshen and red dates. Pour enough water to cover. Put in soy sauce and caramel sauce and bring to a boil. Cover and let it simmer for 1 hour.
4. Remove lid and reduce liquid to preferred amount, (taste it) and thicken the gravy with cornstarch mixture until desired thickness (use more if needed)

*There are many grades of dangshen. Much lower grades are
cheaper, thinner with less flavour. 2nd grade and 1st grade is very expensive to use.