The vibrant heat in this dish comes from bird’s-eye chiles—a fiery, fruity variety popular in Vietnamese, Thai, and Southeast Asian cooking. You can find powdered bird’s-eye chili online or at Asian grocery stores, or make your own by grinding dried chiles in a food processor, clean coffee grinder, or with a mortar and pestle. About 14 chiles will give you the amount of powder needed for this recipe.
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup [60 ml] fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp lime juice, divided
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 3 lb [1.4 kg] pork spareribs, trimmed of excess fat, separated, and cut into 2 in [5 cm] pieces by a butcher
- 1 small sweet onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp dried bird’s-eye chili powder
- 2½ cups [600 ml] Hy Vong Stock (page 66), hot or warm
- 4 to 6 cups [480 to 720 g] cooked jasmine rice, for serving
- 3 green onions, sliced, for garnish
Instructions:
- In a large pot, combine the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon [15 ml] of lime juice, and the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the pork ribs, chopped sweet onion, and bird’s-eye chili powder to the pot, mixing well to coat the ribs evenly.
- Cover the pot and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- After 10 minutes, stir again, cover, and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
- Stir in the warm stock, bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Cook uncovered for about 10 more minutes, or until the ribs are tender.
- Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of lime juice.
- Serve the ribs over cooked jasmine rice, garnished with sliced green onions.
Enjoy the spicy, savory goodness!