
~ Braised Prime Ribs with Squash in Black Soy Beans & Black Vinegar ~
Braised pork ribs may be a very ordinary dish to many Asian Chinese families but certainly not in mine as my husband is not a fan of pork and my little 4 years old girl does not chomp down meat easily. To fulfill my wish in exploring a pork rib recipe, I have decided to take some risk and just do it! So, I began to source for the brand of pork, the cut and methods to cook them.
In Singapore, there are 2 main sources for pork, from Australia and Bulan Island of Indonesia. From observation, most home-cook chefs here claimed that pork from the Bulan Island are not as “porky” as the others. As I intend to consume the gravy too, I chose Prime Ribs over Spare Ribs. There are near to no bone chips visible on the cuts, making it safer for young kids consumption. So, some braised Prime Pork Ribs made it to our dining table.
I often hear that pork ribs dish if of best texture when it is cooked till the meat fall off the bones. However, I have a different preference. I think it looks more presentable when the pieces of meat remain intact on the bones after cooking and fall off the bone only on a tender bite. In this recipe, with the AMC cooking system doing the rapid (pressure) cooking automatically for me, meat on the prime ribs do not fall off the bone but they are all so tender that even young kids can gently bite the meat off the bone, chew and swallow at ease.
As I observed, there are many who chose to cook and consume broiled or grilled Prime Pork Ribs as the well balance fat and meat taste great when they are partly charred in these cooking methods. In some recipes, it is very common to deep-fry meat before hand and double cooking them in gravy or coating them in sticky sauces.
In this recipe, the sourish black vinegar and sweet squash flavours balances the high characteristic taste of prime ribs. I opted to brown and braise with the rapid (pressure) cooking method which shorten cooking time without tolerating on the texture and moisture of meat. With reference to a research on meat cooking between the 2 mentioned methods, pressure cooking has less oxidation of cholesterol than the other. The rapid (pressure) cooking method also retain better flavours and tenderness to meat and minimizes nutrients losses.
With the AMC Premium Cooking System, it enables me to brown and pressure cook using the same Pot unit, without additional fat and liquid. It is fuss free when I must achieve 2 effects in this recipe. For browning, I cover the Pot unit with an AMC Classic Lid to ensure the browning temperature is monitored at a safe point. Thereafter, I continued braising with pressure using the AMC Secuquick Lid to bring meat to the desired tenderness in the quickest time possible. There is no need to transfer from one pot to another. I merely changed the lid. Best of all, the above cooking mentioned were done automatically.
In this recipe, I have achieved a browned flavour whilst having our desired tenderness and goodness in meat with a rapid cooking method with my ethos of “Healthy Cooking”. When I see my little girl giving thumbs up after the first bite and downed 3 pieces, it makes this a worthy experimental recipe.
Braised Prime Ribs with Squash in Black Soy Beans & Black Vinegar Recipe (Serves 3) :
- 9 x 3 inches piece Prime Ribs, 600 grams
- 2 tablespoons Black Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Black Soy Beans, salted type (mashed)
- 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
- 1 inch Ginger (grated)
- 3 cloves Garlic (grated)
- 200 grams Squash (or Pumpkin), cubed 1 inch/about 3cm thick.
- 1 teaspoon Corn Starch (diluted in 1 tablespoon water), optional
- 2 sprigs Basil Leaves (garnishing)
AMC Healthy Cooking Method :
- Marinate prime ribs with all ingredients (except squash and basil leaves) for 8 hours in an AMC 16cm Combi Bowl unit.
- Preheat an AMC 20cm 3.0 litre Pot unit with a Navigenio on heat level “3” up to 50°C or “Meat Window”. Switch on Audiotherm indicating “Meat Window” for readiness indication.
- When Audiotherm beeps, remove lid. Add marinated prime ribs one by one into Pot unit to brown on one side. Cover pot with lid. When Visiotherm indicates “Turning Point” or 90°C, remove lid and turn the prime ribs to the other side to brown. When Visiotherm indicates “Turning Point” or 90°C again, add squash chunks and pour the remaining sauces from the Combi Bowl into the Pot unit.
- Cover pot with the 20cm Secuquick Lid. Switch on Navigenio to automatic mode “A”. Turn on Audiotherm, place on lid knob, indicating “Turbo Window” and set on 10 minutes to braise.
- When Audiotherm beeps, turn off both Navigenio & Audiotherm. Arrange on a serving plate and serve warm with steamed rice.
Tips : When cooking with the AMC Premium Cooking System, no oil is required in pan-frying/browning all kinds of meat. The perfect temperature can be monitored during the cooking process, making non-sticking effect possible whilst all the natural fat originated from meat is drawn for the browning effect. Hence, no unnecessary calories are consumed. Only the most natural ones!

Mashed fermented black beans, black vinegar and all other ingredients added. Chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours.