Slow Cooked Pork Spareribs Noodle Soup (Kluay Teaw Moo Toon)

Christmas is just around the corner! I love this time of year. It's beautiful. An anticipation for "wishes" to come and a new resolution to look forward to keep us alive. Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and a New Year filled with peace and happiness.

Too bad I only get Monday off while the hubs get 5 days off! With limited weekend I have and all the parties keep me really busy. That's when a slow cooker comes handy. It's easy and convenient. I don't get to use it as often as I should have. I left it on in the morning and came home to tender meat and savory soup. Hmm..Yum!

This pork spareribs noodle soup is what Thais call "Kloy teaw moo toon". It's basically herbed soup with tender spareribs. Cinnamon and star anise add deep flavor to the soup. It's actually easy to make; just requires long cooking time. My desire for this dish happened when I craved for it so much. There's only one restaurant I know have this dish. However, I would need to drive 40-45 mins to get there. Not a chance on weekdays to happen!

So, I decided to make my own. The authentic style will need to add pork blood in a soup but I omitted it for mine.  I cooked it on high for 8 hours and switched to simmer for 2 hours. I even used water but still got a savory soup. My favorite part for this dish is soft bones. They are tender and crunchy. Bella and I shared the dish- tee hee. It's pretty good! You can serve it with rice instead of noodle.

Without further ado, let's get cooking.

Slow Cooked Pork Spareribs Soup
Yield: 4-6 people
Cooking time: 10 hrs


Ingredients:
1 lb pork spareribs, cut to 2 inches
1 cinnamon stick. Mine was about 4" long.
2 star anise
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp whole coriander
3 Tbs cilantro stem. Thais normally use cilantro root but it's not accessible here.
3 Tbs cilantro, chopped
3 Tbs soy sauce
3 Tbs black soy sauce
1 Tbs seasoning sauce. I used brand Golden Mountain.
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup sake
2 tsp white pepper
1 onion, peeled, quartered
2 inches fresg ginger, peeled, sliced
Water (about 6 cups)
1 Tbs vegetable oil

Condiments:
White vinegar
Fried garlic
Garlic chili sauce

Slow cooker
Cooked noodle
Bean sprouts

Directions:

• Grind garlic, coriander, and cilantro stem until coarsely chopped. Put in a small bowl.
• Heat up big pot over high heat; add oil. Swirl to coat. Sear ribs on all sides but no need to cook through.
• Transfer ribs to a slow cooker. Add prepared garlic cilantro mixture, and everything else in except water. 
• Add water just to cover the ribs. Cover a cooker with a lid and put on high for 8 hours. 
• After 8 hrs, stir the soup. Taste and correct seasoning. Switch it to simmer for another 2 hrs.
• Remove cinnamon stick and star anise if possible. If you won't finish all in one day, you can leave those in the pot.
• To get rid of excessed fat, chil the soup in the fridge. You will see all solid fat on top of the soup. Use spoon to scoop it out. Reheat.
• Serve it with cooked noodle and bean sprouts. For bean sprout, blanch them in a soup and transfer to prepared bowl. Add condiments about 1 tsp of each on each bowl. However, this is optional.

Add garlic chili paste, white vinegar, and fried garlic for more flavor