Soft fried sticky ribs with garlic (软炸蒜香排骨). I have found this dish in a nearby restaurants. The ribs are fried directly with relatively low oil temperature. You will find the ribs are so tender and along with the strong aroma of garlic. It is quite amazing.

Ribs are one of the most popular ingredients in Chinese cuisine, quite similar to pork belly. We love to cook ribs in various ways for example rib soups, steamed rib with fermented black beans and pan-fried crispy ribs. And they are also excellent ingredients for soups.

In Chinese cuisine, we usually have two ways of making fried dishes. One is the most famous and traditional common fried dishes including Sichuan fried crispy pork , fried squid and Taiwanese fried chicken. The other one is soft fried dishes (软炸). With soft-frying, we use less starch to create a softer shell like soft fried shrimp.

Cook’s Note

Garlic is used here as the biggest highlight, but they can be easily burnt in the hot oil. Here are some tips to help you prevent garlic from getting burnt. Firstly, use knife cutting and make sure the chopped garlic are similar in size (avoid extremely small ones). Secondly, wash the garlic to remove the sticky tissue on the surface.
Marinate the ribs for a longer time. Overnight marinating is recommended if you are not in a hurry (at least 4 hours marinating is needed)
Fry the ribs twice. At the first time, we use slow fire so the ribs can be cooked evenly. But they may absorb more oil in lower temperature. So in the second frying, use high oil temperature can help to drive the extra oil out and make the ribs drier and more sticky.
Adding more starch can help to make a harder and crispy shell if you prefer.
I have gotten lots of feedbacks from Chinese steamed ribs with black bean sauce and know some of the ribs are quite hard to cook. So please choose ribs from younger pigs.

Ingredients

500g ribs, select ribs from younger pigs
1/4 cup to 1/3 cup starch
oil for deep-frying

Marinating

6-8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3-4 slices ginger
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1/2 tsp. dark soy sauce
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp white pepper

Steps

Soak the ribs in clean water for around half an hour to remove the blood water (so we get more pure taste)

Roughly chop the garlic and rinse under running water. Drain and set aside.

Pat dry with kitchen paper and add all the other marinating at least 4 hours or overnight in fridge.

Before frying, add starch and mix well.

Heat oil until 140 to 150 degree C and slow down the fire. Fry the ribs until slightly brown (this may takes around 6-10 minutes until the ribs are well cooked). Transfer out.

Heat the oil until almost smoky (at least 200 degree C, depending on the oil you are using), place the ribs in and fry for another 20 to 30 seconds. Keep stirring in the second deep-frying process to avoid burnt garlic.

The garlic might drop from the ribs. Do not discard them. Strain them out and top with the ribs. Add some fresh pepper circles and coriander. Serve directly or with dipping sauces for even hotter versions.