Home / All Recipes / Chinese / Steamed Spare Ribs Black Beans

Steamed Spare Ribs Black Beans

Name: Steamed Spare Ribs Black Beans
Prep time: 2 h 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 2 h 40 min
Ingredients: 500 gram (~ 1.1 lb.) spare ribs, cut into bite size pieces; 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 2 teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 tablespoon water; 1 Fresno chili, seeded and chopped; 1 Japaleno chili, seeded and chopped; 1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and drained

Last updated: Nov 4, 2019 — Published: Nov 4, 2019 — By: Anita — 13 comments

Tender and juicy steamed spare ribs with black beans like those from a Chinese dim sum. Now you don't have to wait until the next dim sum to enjoy this.

Do you have favorite dishes that you must order whenever you go for a Chinese dim sum? For us, steamed spare ribs with black beans is definitely one of our must-haves. Though lately, we have been ordering this less and less because of how easy it is to actually prepare this dish at home. These spare ribs are so delicious and ridiculously easy you will want to make them, again and again, to serve with steamed white rice.

To prepare Chinese steamed spare ribs with black beans, you will need marinated spare ribs, chopped red and green chilies, Chinese fermented black beans, and corn starch slurry.

For dim sum style, make sure to use a shorter spare ribs

Do you notice that Chinese style spare ribs are much shorter compared to their Western counterparts? It’s actually the same thing, but Chinese butchers usually cut the regular spare ribs into two lengthwise to create shorter ribs, which makes them much easier to handle with a pair of chopsticks. If you want your spare ribs to look exactly like the dim sum version, you will definitely want to get your butcher to chop them for you. Or, if you buy your spare ribs from a Chinese/Asian grocery store, it is very likely that they are already pre-cut for you.

Place all ingredients in a heat proof plate/bowl and steam for about 10 minutes, or until meat is opaque and fully cooked.

The prep works: marinate the spare ribs and prepare the rest of the ingredients

Once you have your requisite spare ribs, you will want to marinate them with the following for at least 2 hours, though I usually let them rest overnight in the fridge.

Shaoxing wine
sesame oil
sugar
salt
ground white pepper, you can use black pepper too if you don’t mind the black specks in the final dish

And here are the rest of the prep works that you need to do prior to steaming:

chopping 1 red chili, I usually use Fresno chili for this
chopping 1 green chili, I usually use Jalapeno or Serrano
rinse and drain the fermented black beans

You should be able to find fermented black beans in any well-stocked Chinese/Asian grocery. I find that these are usually found in the dried/preserved ingredients aisle, along with dried turnips and the assortment of dried vegetables.

A bowl of Chinese steamed spare ribs with black beans.

Steaming the spare ribs

There are two ways you can choose to steam your spare ribs: the dim sum style, or the normal way.

Dim sum style

You will need several small rimmed heatproof porcelain plates, like those you get from the dim sum. You then divide the spare ribs into several of these tiny plates, making sure that each plate only has one layer of ribs, or your cooking time will be off and the ribs won’t cook at the same time, then top with the chilies and fermented black beans.

Normal/simple style

Simply arrange the spare ribs in a heatproof rimmed plate/bowl, again in one layer, then top with the chilies and fermented black beans.

Once they are arranged, be sure to steam over medium heat until the meat is opaque and fully cooked. I usually need around 8-10 minutes as long as I keep the ribs in one layer. Enjoy!