Pork spare ribs slow-braised in medicinal broth

By: Luke Nguyen
From: The Food of Vietnam
Serves: 4-6
Photographer: Alan Benson

When my great uncle introduced me to this dish, he called it a ‘medicinal broth’. Straight away, this brought back old memories of my father brewing a potent Chinese herbal remedy, which I was made to drink when I was ill. It was horribly bitter, and the only way I could drink it was by covering up my nose. Luckily, my great uncle’s medicinal broth was nothing like my father’s. It is aromatic, fragrant, clean and well worth the time and effort.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
300g	short spare ribs, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon	sea salt
1 teaspoon	dried raisins
5g	dried ginseng
5g	dried lotus seeds
5g	dried goji berries
5g	dried black prune
5g	dried lilly petals
5g	pearl barley
5g	dried longon
5g	dried white vegetable root

Method

In a mixing bowl, rub the pork ribs with the salt.
Bring 2 litres water to the boil in a very large saucepan.
Add all the remaining ingredients to a medium-sized clay pot, then sit the pork on top. Pour in enough water to cover the pork by 5 cm — about 400–500 ml.
Put the lid on the clay pot, then carefully place the clay pot into the simmering water, making sure the hot water is level with the top of the clay pot. Put the lid on the saucepan and simmer for 3 hours.
Carefully remove the clay pot from the simmering water. Serve the hot soup with steamed jasmine rice.