Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Despite their "golden riches" symbolism in Chinese culture, I didn’t think that oranges featured in many otherwise Chinese-inspired savory dishes. I certainly don’t remember any from the many years we lived in Malaysia and Singapore where Chinese restaurants abound.

But I was wrong! A simple search reveals, that as usual *deep sigh* everyone from Serious Eats to Kroger. com, for goodness’ sake, has an orange braised beef short rib recipe online. It’s hard to be original in this world. That said, I’m here to tell you, orange juice and zest are great additions and that’s probably why they are popular. 

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs are such a succulent cut but they do release a lot of fat when slow cooked till tender. If you want to discard most of the fat, cook this ahead of the day you’d like to serve it. You will have time to chill it overnight and remove most of the fat that rises to the top and hardens. My method below includes that step. 

Ingredients

3 lbs 5 oz or 1.5kg short ribs

1 tablespoon five-spice powder

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/2 cup or 120ml soy sauce

2 cups or 480ml fresh orange juice

1 celery stick, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

2 tablespoons salted black beans, rinsed

1 orange

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

To serve: small handful cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish, if desired

Method

Using a sharp knife, cut off the zest of the orange in strips, as whole as possible, but thin, no white pith. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Peel and slice the ginger. Remove the stems and cut the red chili peppers into two halves and chop the celery stick. 

Tuck the spare ribs in a Dutch oven that has a tightly fitting lid and sprinkle them with the five-spice powder, fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce then orange juice. 

Tuck the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, salted black beans, star anise and bay leaf on and amongst the ribs. 

Top with the chopped onions and celery. 

Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Cover with tightly fitting lid and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about four hours., checking occasionally to make sure it isn’t drying out. 

My LeCreuset Dutch oven really seals well and I don’t have to add water, but I know that not all pots are that great.  Add a little water, if needed from time to time.

If you have planned ahead as I mentioned above, pour the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl. Pick out all the bones that have separated from the meat in the pot and discard them. 

Add the meat into the cooking liquid and chill overnight. The next day, carefully remove the solidified fat and discard. 

Rewarm the short ribs and stir in the small handful of cilantro.

I recommend serving the ribs with mashed potatoes or rice because of all the lovely gravy. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Firecracker Oatmeal Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Culinary Cam: How to Shuck Oysters and a Few Serving Ideas 
• Palatable Pastime: Olive Cream Cheese Bites
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Orange Chili Pulled Pork 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Oreo Mousse Cake
• Magical Ingredients: Oreo Paratha
• A Messy Kitchen: Ozark Pudding
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche
• Food Lust People Love: Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Whole Orange Cake

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs - this post!

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Trini Fry Bakes #BreadBakers

Light and fluffy, Trini fry bakes are easy to make with just a few simple ingredients. They are one of my favorite snacks from my childhood years in Trinidad. Why they are called bakes when they are always deep fried, I cannot tell you. It remains a mystery to this day.

We moved to Trinidad when I was five years old and thanks to my mom’s adventurous spirit, I was introduced to so many new foods that have become part of our family menu, like curry, fried wontons, stuffed crab, tamarind balls and salt prunes.

My older sister and I were in enrolled in a small school not far from our new home and my mom got busy finding out where to shop and otherwise outfit said home. One of the first things she did was to hire a local lady to help her care for our five-month-old baby sister and to help clean and cook occasional meals. 

I’d get home from school, shuck my uniform and shoes in favor of shorts and bare feet, then run to the kitchen for a snack. On days when bake dough was in evidence, I could hardly wait to hear it hit the oil. I’d retire to the back garden to eat my hot puffy treasure in peace. Good times. 

In Trinidad, fry bakes are eaten with an assortment of other ingredients from plain butter and cheese to fried eggs, smoked herring or saltfish and tomatoes. Fry bakes are also one half of the classic shark and bake, essential to any beach day on the island. 

Trini Fry Bakes

I have adapted my recipe from several I’ve found on the internet, primarily Cooking with Ria and Triniinxisle. Some recipes use baking powder as the only rising agent and some either require yeast or list it as an optional ingredient. 

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

3/4 cup or 180ml warm water

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2-3 cups or 480-720ml canola or other light oil for frying

Method

Put the yeast in a small bowl with a pinch of sugar. Add a couple of tablespoons of the warm water and set aside to proof. The yeast should start to bubble up if it is active. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Add the butter and use your fingertips or a pastry blender to work it into the flour mixture. 

While stirring with a wooden spoon or Danish whisk, slowly add water into the flour and mix until the dough starts to leave the bowl’s sides. You may not need quite all the water. 

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface to knead for a few minutes. Or use a stand mixer instead of hand kneading. Knead the dough in the mixer for several minutes or until it starts to pull away from the sides.

Form the dough into a large ball in a bowl and cover the bowl with cling film or a plastic shower cap. Let it rest for a minimum of about 30 minutes. You can refrigerate for several hours or overnight. This helps to create a fluffier result.

When you are ready to fry the bakes, divide the dough into 8 small "golf" ball sized pieces. My dough weighed 498g so each ball weighed 62g.

On a lightly-floured surface, using your clean hands and/or a rolling pin to flatten the balls out into disks about 4x6 in or 10x15cm.

Pour oil into a medium sized pot on medium heat. For the most accurate judge of oil temperature, use a thermometer. Deep fry temperature is 380°F or 193°C.

I like to use as small a pot as will fit my bakes comfortably, one at a time, to minimize the amount of oil I have to use. I add just enough oil to reach my thermometer so I know that the temperature reading is accurate. 

When your oil reaches the correct temperature, put the bake in the hot oil. When it floats and turns golden on the bottom, quickly turn it over to brown the other side. This takes about 30-45 seconds on each side. I have seen recipes that shallow fry the dough but then how do you know when they float? My childhood experience is that the bakes were always deep fried. 

Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the fry bakes to a paper towel-lined plate. This helps absorb the excess oil. 

If you aren’t serving these hot as they come out of the oil, you can put the plate in a warm oven. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes, Many thanks to our host today, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe who challenged us to make fry breads. Check out the links below:

• Mixed Flour Instant Bhatura from Sneha's Recipe
• Trini Fry Bakes from Food Lust People Love
• Tangzhong Doughnuts from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Banh Tieu from Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail

When it’s hot outside this sparkling blueberry cocktail made with lemon juice, flavored vodka and blueberry juice will cool you off and cheer you up!

One of my favorite things to do, especially in a new country or town, is to explore a local grocery store, going up and down each aisle so I don’t miss anything. Sometimes I find things I didn’t even know existed, like the blueberry juice I use for this cocktail. 

Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail

If you can’t find any store-bought, a simple Google search for homemade blueberry juice turned up pages and pages of recipes and videos. The lemon juice, blueberry juice and club soda should be chilled for the optimal cool drink.

Ingredients 

Ice cubes

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 oz or 60ml blueberry juice (store-bought or homemade)

1 1/2 oz or 44ml Absolut Wild Berri vodka

Club soda to top up glass

To garnish: lemon wedges and fresh blueberries

Method

Use a cocktail stick to skewer a few fresh blueberries. Pop it in a glass with 3-4 ice cubes along with the fresh lemon juice.

Measure in the flavored vodka then add in the blueberry juice.

Garnish with a lemon wedge and top up with club soda.

Enjoy! 

Did you know that it’s National Blueberry Month? Yeah, I didn’t either until our Sunday FunDay host chose blueberries for our theme today. Many thanks to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm! Check out the blueberry recipes below. You've got the rest of the month to make them! 

• Asian Sweet and Spicy Salmon with Blueberry/Pineapple Salsa from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Blueberry Cactus Bread from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Blueberry Lemon Cornbread from Palatable Pastime
• Blueberry Pecan Rugelach from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Keto Microwave Blueberry Muffin from Sneha's Recipe
• Pickled Blueberries from Culinary Cam
• Sparkling Blueberry Cocktail from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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