Asian Braised beef short ribs would have to be the ultimate comfort food that we love to cook for dinner at home. Nothing really compares to eating saucy, fall-off-the-bone meat with fluffy rice! Slowly cooked in a honey-soy braising sauce infused with gorgeous aromatics such as ginger, garlic, shallots, star anise and cinnamon, our Asian braised beef short ribs are pack full of beautiful Asian flavours.
Beef short ribs (not to be confused with beef spare ribs) are taken from the forequarter and are available from any good butcher in Perth (we get ours from Olsen Butchers). We like to get them bone-in, because it just tastes better cooked on the bone! It is a meaty and tender cut, and it has beautiful layers of fat to give you plenty of flavours. Beef short ribs are the best meat cut for slow cooking, so it is perfect for braising.
For this recipe, we sear the ribs first before leaving it to cook slowly in a braising liquid for 3 hours in the oven (too easy!). With just a little patience, you will end up with delicious, fork-tender beef that will no doubt be the hero dish of your meal. To serve, you only need steamed Asian greens and plain rice to mop up all that luscious sauce!
Asian Braised Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg beef short ribs bone-in
- 2 tbsp oil vegetable or canola
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp ginger grated
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 shallots finely sliced
- 3 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick small
- coriander roughly chopped, to serve
- red chillies finely sliced, to serve
Braising Sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup shaoxing wine
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160C/325F (without fan).
- Combine the braising sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Season the beef ribs with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a medium ovenproof pot over medium-high heat. Add half the ribs in and sear until gold brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the remaining ribs.
- Turn the heat down to medium. Add the ginger, garlic and shallots. Sauté for a few minutes.
- Turn up the heat and add the braising sauce, star anise and cinnamon stick. Scrape the bottom of your pot with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to loosen any browned bits that are stuck at the bottom. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
- Return the short ribs to the pot. Arrange them so that they are all submerged. If you are unable to submerge all the ribs, you will need to transfer everything into a smaller ovenproof pot.
- Cover the pot with the lid and place in the oven to cook for 3hrs, or until the meat is fork-tender.
- Remove the beef ribs carefully onto a large serving dish. Cover to keep warm.
- Skim off excess beef fat from the top of the remaining liquid in the pot.
- Place the pot back onto the stove and bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency. Taste the sauce for seasoning.
- Spoon the sauce onto the beef ribs and garnish with chillies and coriander to serve.