Korean-style beef ribs with chestnuts and radishes

Name: Korean-style beef ribs with chestnuts and radishes
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 3kg thick beef short ribs; 10 cooked chestnuts (you can buy them precooked or roast your own); 6 fleshy, pitted dates; 1 bunch of red radishes, trimmed

May 14, 2015

Time:2 hours +Serves:8

This is certainly not a traditional Korean recipe, but it is inspired by a classic, galbi jjim. The original is customarily a celebratory dish, but there's nothing so complicated in the method that it needs to be reserved for special occasions.

Ingredients

3kg thick beef short ribs
10 cooked chestnuts (you can buy them precooked or roast your own)
6 fleshy, pitted dates
1 bunch of red radishes, trimmed

Rib sauce

1 brown onion, roughly chopped
2 kiwifruit, roughly chopped
5cm-piece ginger, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
150ml kecap manis
100ml light soy sauce
100ml rice wine
100ml fish sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil

Stock

1 brown onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
2 fresh bay leaves
2 dried chillies
2 tbsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced or 190C conventional.
2. Add the ribs to a large saucepan and cover well with water. Bring to the boil and drain. Wash the saucepan and put the ribs back to the pan with the stock ingredients and enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Strain the stock and skim the fat (if you refrigerate the stock in a jug, a layer of fat will form as it cools, making it easier to remove). Reduce on the stove top by half.
4. For the rib sauce, add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth.
5. Put the ribs, chestnuts and dates in a large ovenproof pot and pour over the sauce and reserved stock. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven for one hour.
6. After an hour, uncover, add the radishes and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove the ribs and radishes, skim off some of the fat and reduce the sauce by about a third.
7. Add the ribs back to the sauce and take the pot straight to the table. Serve with steamed rice.
TIPS:

- Make a sambal to serve on the side by pounding eschalots and fresh chillies in a mortar until a rough paste, season with a little fish sauce and loosen with a splash of oil

- To roast your own chestnuts, cut a cross through the skin of each one and roast in a moderate oven for 15-25 minutes until the skins split open and the nuts are fragrant. Cool and peel

- You could use large chunks of daikon instead of the red radishes, and serve with potatoes rather than rice