bonjourhan

I made this dish last week, and although I would never claim to be proficient at cooking Asian dishes, this actually turned out pretty good!

Oh yeah, and… Merry Christmas! We’re at my parents’ house, and there are a lot of people... this is how we celebrate Christmas around here!

Anyway, back to business.

This whole meal is actually pretty quick and easy. Unless you can barely boil water, you can probably serve this to guests even if it’s your first time to make it – it’s beautiful and easy. Otherwise, you might want to try it out first… I adapted it from the Better Homes and Gardens recipe book.

Asian Pork Ribs

These are so delicious. I like to use a cast iron pan, but you can use anything that can safely go in the oven.

Ingredients

The ingredients are pretty easy and flexible.

• 3 lbs pork ribs (I used boneless, you can pretty much use whatever you want. I also only had 3 ribs…)
• 3 Tbs apricot preserves (you can substitute pineapple preserves, peach preserves or orange marmalade if you don’t have apricot)
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbs soy sauce (I splashed some vinegar in there too)
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 clove minced garlic

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. If the ribs are frozen, you might want to thaw them in the microwave first, but you don’t have to.

1. Cut ribs into serving-size pieces and place in a pot. Fill with just enough water to barely cover the ribs. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender. Drain.
2. While the ribs are simmering, cut up any large chunks in the preserves. For the sauce, stir together the preserves, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a bowl.
3. Place the ribs in a roasting pan and brush on all sides with the sauce.
4. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes. Brush with remaining sauce before serving.

Here are some pictures to show you what it looks like:

Broiled Eggplant

These take only 5, maybe 10 minutes to make from start to finish.

Ingredients

You don’t have to go searching for Chinese eggplant for this recipe. Just go buy your regular old purple eggplant from the grocery store. Look for a firm one with no wrinkles, but it doesn’t have to look perfect.

• 1 purple eggplant
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar or white wine vinegar (I made mine with plain white vinegar because that’s all I had. I’m guessing that’s probably the only thing sitting in your pantry too.)
• 2 tsp each vegetable oil and sesame oil (I used all vegetable oil because, again, that’s what I had)
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger (unless you’re not a huge fan of ginger, like Stephen and I. I only used about 1/4 tsp.)
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or black pepper

Directions

Preheat the broiler on high heat. Move the top oven rack to about 4 inches from the top.

1. Cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange on a baking sheet.
2. Mix together in a small bowl the soy sauce, vinegar, oil, ginger, garlic and pepper flakes.
3. Brush the mixture liberally over both sides of each slice of eggplant.
4. Place the baking sheet in the oven under the broiler for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn over the eggplant slices, and place back under the broiler for 3-4 more minutes. It should be barely golden brown and tender.

This is what it should look like before broiling: