Cola Ribs

Craving something sweet and meaty? Have some cola sitting around the house? Try this recipe.

Watch the instructional video here (note, it's in Chinese, but you can take a look to see what the different steps should look like)

Ingredients

-short ribs (I used about a pound, which was about 5-6 ribs)

-1~1.5 cups of cola (enough to cover the ribs when you cook them)

-cooking oil (about half inch deep)

-sliced ginger

-pinch of salt

-1 tbsp sugar (optional)

-1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, or other cooking wine (I used Chinese vinegar, you can probably use a bit of whatever is in the house)

-2 tbsp cooking wine

-scallion (optional)

-minced or sliced garlic

-chicken stock/flavoring (optional)

Directions

1. First cut the ribs into halves, if this is difficult you can skip the step.

2. Wash ribs and then put them in a pot of water on high heat.

3. When water boils, take pot off of the stove, wash ribs clean in another bowl of cold water.

4. Heat oil in pan/wok, put one star anise (if you have it) in the oil. I didn't have star anise so I just put some Chinese spice mix (5 spice, I think star anise is included). Also add ginger slices.

5. Once you get the spices and oil going, add the ribs (drain them carefully and dab with paper towel before you add them to hot oil!). Add rice wine and some salt. Stir often, for around 5 minutes, until ribs start to brown. Be careful and don't burn them.

6. After ribs start to brown, pour out excess oil from pan, leaving just a bit to keep the pan oiled.

7. Add cola to pan, sugar (if you have a sweet tooth), vinegar, and a bit of chicken stock/flavoring

8. After cola stock boils, cover the pan for another 5 minutes (or longer if you want thicker sauce).

9. Add scallion and garlic, stir around a bit more, and turn off the heat.

Notes:

I have seen many cola rib recipes that take too long (baking, grilling, etc) but this one seems to do the trick nicely. I love how sweet and juicy the meat is. Fairly simple to do too.

Here are the other reipes if you're curious.

Baking: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Cook-Short-Ribs-in-Cola-126604602

Grilling: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bbq-with-bobby-flay/cola-ribs-recipe/index.html