Korean-style Pork Ribs – Daeji Galbi

Do you ever make a dish that is almost too good? That’s how I feel about these pork ribs, known as daeji galbi in Korean. The Korean marinade adds such delicious deep, spicy flavours to the ribs, but then we also turn it into a sauce. It’s so good!

You can also make this dish with chicken wings or drumettes, lamb ribs, mushrooms, tempeh, anything really! I use pork rib racks but spare ribs (separated) are great too.

In the video, I steam the ribs, then finish them on the barbecue but I also talk about the other ways you can get these beauties onto the table. See Variations for all your options.

Korean marinades often use apple or pear; I’ve swapped that out for peach.

Serves: 4
Time: 50 minutes, plus marinating time of 30 minutes or more

Method

Marinade

1. Place onion, garlic and ginger in mixing bowl. Chop 4 sec/speed 8.

2. Add peach or apple. Chop 3 sec/speed 7.

3. Add other marinade ingredients. Stir 10 sec/speed 3.

4. Pour marinade over ribs and leave for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days. You can freeze them like this too.

5. Remove ribs from marinade, reserving marinade. Place 1 litre (35 oz) water in mixing bowl and ribs in Varoma, trying to overlap them as little as possible. Steam 30 min/Varoma/speed 2. Remove ribs from Varoma.

6. Turn reserved marinade into a dipping sauce. Tip out most liquid, lifting just enough to cover the lowest blade. Add reserved marinade to mixing bowl and heat 5 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 1, or until hot. If desired, continue cooking until further reduced, removing MC and placing steamer basket on mixing bowl lid.

7. While sauce is reducing, finish ribs on the barbecue, cooking for a few minutes each side over medium-high heat. (Grill peaches if you like, too!)

8. Cut ribs with kitchen scissors and serve with lettuce cups, kimchi and reserved marinade. And napkins!

Tips

• Gochujang is a thick fermented Korean chilli (hot pepper) paste made with chilli, rice and soy beans. You can purchase it in Asian grocers and some supermarkets. If you can’t find it, replace with a teaspoon of chilli powder and 2 tablespoons tomato paste.
• Reduce or omit sugar, if desired. I use soft brown sugar in this recipe.
• Kimchi juice is the liquid that you’ll find in a jar of kimchi. It’s optional but adds a spiced funkiness to the dish.
• ‘American-style rib racks’ are long slabs of pork ribs still joined together. I show you in the video where they come from. You can use other meats and vegetables: pork spare ribs, chicken wings or drumettes, lamb ribs, mushrooms and tempeh are great too.

Variations

• Rice can be cooked while the ribs are steaming. Place 300 grams (10.6 oz) sushi rice in steamer basket and set in place. Set Varoma in place with ribs. Cook rice and ribs for 20 min/Varoma/speed 4, then remove rice and continue cooking ribs 10 min/Varoma/speed 2.
• Ribs can be eaten after being simply steamed. Ensure they are cooked (not pink) all the way through by cutting between the thickest ribs using a knife or kitchen scissors. If ribs are not cooked, continue for a further 10 min/Varoma/speed 2, then check again.
• Marinated ribs can also be oven-roasted. Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F) and place ribs in roasting tray. Cook for 20 minutes, basting with reserved marinade if desired. Turn oven up to 220°C (430°F) for a further 10 minutes.
• I grill a couple of peaches on the barbecue to serve with my ribs – it’s a nice addition but by no means necessary.

More about this video

• See more great Barbecue recipes!
• A girl’s gotta get dressed! Today I’m wearing Nooworks coveralls.
• Read my review of Hinoak, an innovative Korean barbecue restaurant.