Asian inspired bison short ribs over sesame sushi rice

I had some marvellous, rich and dark rice wine braised bison short ribs about a month ago at Wild Tangerine and have been dying for an excuse to attempt something similar. I was looking for a make-ahead and reheatable main course to round out the meal I made for my office mate who won the contest I ran at work, offering a prize of a dinner for four. It was the perfect opportunity, I thought, to try these ribs out. Of course I made enough for  us and a few guests of our own!

The ribs are fall-apart tender and the sauce is rich and dark with soy sauce and salted rice wine. It's definitely the kind of dish that brings out the plate-mopper in all of us, so be sure to serve it with lots of rice to soak up the juice!

I served ours over sushi rice infused with vinegar, palm sugar, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. The version I made for my coworker was paired with sesame crusted black rice cakes. Both were excellent. One or two ribs per person is sufficient as they have far more meat on them than beef ribs. Make sure you get the correct kind of rice wine. Some rice wine is sold in clear bottles and is a white liquid at about 9.5% alcohol volume. That is not the right kind. The correct rice wine is a dark golden colour, an alcohol content of 17.5% and is known as salted rice wine. Check the importation label to make sure your wine comes from the general brewery of Siao Hseng City in the Zhejiang Province of China. It is sometimes known as Ko Yu Dragon Mountain Brand (Hua Tiao Chiew).

Asian inspired bison short ribs (serves 4)

• 4 pounds bison short ribs, cut into individual ribs.
• 1.5 cups soy sauce
• 1/2 cup salted dark rice wine
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
• 3 pieces ginger, each 1/2 cm. thick and measuring 1-2 cm. by 3-4 cm, cut into sticks
• 1 litre water
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 4 stalks green onion, chopped
• 2 chopped Thai peppers (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)
• juice of one lemon
• juice of one lime

Place all ingredients into a large (5-6 litre) pot  or into your slow cooker. If there is not enough liquid to cover the ribs, add water until they are covered. Bring to the pot to the boil (or, if you are using your slow cooker, wait until you see it start to bubble and spit). Reduce cover and simmer for 3 hours. Remove ribs from the liquid and set aside. Strain liquid through a sieve and reduce in a pot over medium high heat until reduced in volume to about 2 cups, and sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. This will take about 30 minutes. Return ribs to pot,a stir to cover with sauce. Serve over rice.

Sesame crusted purple rice cakes

• 1 cup black sticky rice, cooked (find out how to cook black sticky rice here)
• 1 cup white sticky rice, cooked (find out how to cook white sticky rice here)
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon regular white, unsalted rice wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients except sesame seeds. With damp hands roll the rice into 4 equal balls (about the size of a small baseball. Roll balls in sesame seeds and flatten with hand, or press into a biscuit/scone cutter, to make a round cake shape.

Spray with oil and heat in oven at 325F for 15 minutes. Serve with bison short ribs on top.

Comments

[clare eats]

This looks fantastic Lyn.
I am so going to make this! Of course I cant make this out of bison....

[Dawna]

Outstanding, Lyn! I am a big fan of Asian inspired meat dishes - and this looks so delicious and glisteny. Yum yum yum!

[tara]

Oh my. It is hotter than heck in my apartment and I have NO desire to cook. But now I want bison short ribs. There is no way you could courier some over to an exceedingly greatful girl in Ontario, could you? Seriously stunning, Lyn!

[Joan]

Mmmm, the ribs were great, but they sound even better here - how is that possible? Maybe we have to come over and have them again!

[stef]

hi lyn, i was wondering how much black rice did you put in the rice cakes? they look absolutely lovely!
and i wanted to make sure, did you use the stuff that's also called "emperor" or "forbidden rice"? i'm assuming it's precooked before you make it into rice cakes.

[Lyn]

Stef

I mixed about 1/2 cooked sushi rice and 1/2 cooked black rice. It's usually just called "black sticky rice" or "purple sticky rice" in the Asian grocery I buy it from.