Hand-me-down 4-3-2-1 Ribs

(This is contributed by ghjwong and kk. kk passed the recipe to ghjwong and both of them shared with me around the same time. Both recipes are basically the same. I have since compiled them and reproduce the recipe.)

This is a recipe handed down from kk's maternal grandmother – easy to remember, handy when you have exhausted your condiments in the pantry, and always works a treat! If you have lots of ribs, just increase the sauce ingredients a factor, but keep the same ratio.

You can use the American (or what Woolworths call Australian) ribs, or Chinese-style pork spare ribs (pork rashers) for this recipe. If using the pork rashers, trim the fat off first, and make sure that you cut the pieces no smaller than 3cm in size, because they will shrink with simmering.

4 tbsp soy sauce*
3 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
~500g pork spare ribs
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced

*You may use 2 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tbsp dark soy sauce. If you like, you can use more light soya sauce than dark to make the final product more aesthetically appealing / not so dark in colour! For my first try (photo above), I used 2.5 light soy and 1.5 dark soy)

Original recipe:
Mix the first 4 ingredients together. In a frypan, heat some oil on medium heat. Once it is hot, add the ribs and garlic. When ribs are brown on one side, turn over until both sides are sealed/browned. Pour in your sauce and simmer on low heat for ~5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will bubble and caramelise, leaving a lovely sauce to coat your ribs! Serve with steamed rice and chinese veggies!

My tweaked version:
Cut up the ribs into segments (in between the bones). Put them into a saucepan of boiling water. Cook for about 10 mins and drain off the water. Marinade the ribs with the sauces for 15 mins or longer.

In a frypan, heat some oil on medium heat. Once hot, add garlic, ribs (with the marinating sauces), 1/4 cup of water and 8 chinese mushrooms (soaked in hot water for 20 mins to soften them then sliced up). Bring it to the boil and lower the heat and simmer for about 20 mins, stirring occasionally. The sauce will bubble and caramelise, leaving a lovely sauce to coat your ribs! Serve with steamed rice and chinese veggies!


I tweaked the recipe in the hope of making the ribs more flavoursome (by marinating them) and tender (by blanching them before the 'real' cooking). I added some mushrooms because I wanted to try it out. However it was not as tender as I wanted it to be. I might cook them in my magic thermal pot the next time I try and let it continue cooking for a couple of hours. They should be really tender then! :)

I really love this ribs! Tasty and yummy!