#211 Kalbi Style Braised Beef Ribs and Neck Bones.

Happy Slow Cooker Friday! It's warm weather alright, but today there's a bad storm in our area with high winds, rain and hail. I know this is not the best weather to bring out the Slow Cooker but for some reason I seem to forget that I own a nice one stacked away in the depths of my pantry on a back shelf until I decided(or remember) to excavate it from it's hibernation. Today, I have some fresh beef ribs from the market and since the family loves a nice stew or barbecue once in a while the Slow Cooker made its random appearance. Besides, I can throw it all in the crockpot and relax in front of the TV:)

I rubbed the Ribs with cornflour and lightly browned them in Olive Oil before tossing the rest of the ingredients and slow cooking them for about 6 hours, just until the meat falls off the bone while the gravy thickens. Quite possibly these were the very best Ribs that I’ve made in a long long time and sure enough V made a verdict they were “the bomb”. Although beef does not entice me, I was drawn by the aroma so much and was tempted enough to serve myself some of the flavorful braising sauce over steamed jasmine rice!! Traditional Kalbi Sauce is used to make Korean style barbecue Short Ribs. Well ,this is a braised stew-like dish with a nice savory punch,  I threw in carrots, prunes and celery and customized it to my taste. It turned out to be a rustic home-made slow braised  and comforting dish.

Ingredients:

Beef short Ribs and Neck bones- 2 lbs

Soy Sauce- 3 Tblspn

Honey Barbecue Sauce- 2 Tblsn

Chopped Spanish Onions- 1 cup

Sesame Oil- 1 Tblspn

Dried Prunes- 1 Cup

Beef or Vegetable Broth- 2 cups

Balsamic Vinegar- 2 Tblspn

Carrots – 2 large cubed

Celery- 2 stems cubed

Julienned Ginger- 2 inch piece.

Red Wine- 1 cup

Olive Oil 2 Tblspns

Cornflour- 1 Tblspn

Salt, Pepper and crushed red pepper flakes

How to make it:

1. Wash and dry the ribs well on papertowels.

2. Place a skillet on the slow cooker adding 2 Tbsln of Olive oil. Toss a little pepper and salt along with the cornflour mix well and toss the meat to lightly coat them.

3. Cover the meat lightly with the seasoned cornflour and quickly brown them on both sides in the skillet. ( I used the metal container of the crockpot to brown the meat and then placed it on the warm heated base of my crockpot to continue braising the meat). Since crockpots and slow-cookers are so varied just use any method to brown the meat.

4. Place the browned meat into the crockpot or slow cooker.

5. Now starting with the soy sauce, wine, barbecue sauce, spanish onions, prunes chopped, beef broth, balsamic vinegar, pepper salt, red pepper flakes and sesame oil add mixing well with the meat in the crockpot.

6. Turn the cooker on and slowly braise the meat in the liquid for about 4 -6 hours until the meat is well done and falls apart with a fork. The technique of browning the meat before and then cooking it is called braising and it has been the best cooking technique used in many Indian curries too.

7. When the braising liquid is still not thick add the carrots, celery, ginger about 15 minutes before the cooking time ends. Cook until the veggies are soft. The braising liquid is now thick and flavorful. Spoon off excess fat from the top and discard.

8. Remove and serve over steamed jasmine rice.