Short ribs, don’t you love them? When the Accidental Locavore saw this recipe from Tasting Table, it was only a matter of time before this recipe for coconut curry short ribs made it onto my dining table. Like most short rib recipes, this one is pretty easy, but it’s a long 3-4 hour, cooking time, so plan accordingly. The recipe calls for doing them in a Dutch oven, and I did sear and finish them in mine, however so they didn’t have to be tended, they went in the slow cooker, and came out great. To go with, some baby bok choy, sliced horizontally, sauteed with a little minced garlic, and ginger, and finished with some soy sauce and hot sesame oil. Served 3 with not much left over.
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I used some panang curry paste, it came in a red container and worked fine)
- 1 1/2″ piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch of scallions, white and green parts, coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 3 pounds beef short ribs (about 10 small ones)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup chicken stock, or broth (I used beef broth as for some crazy reason there was no chicken broth)
- 1 4″ piece lemongrass, lightly crushed (use the handle of a knife and whack it)
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (I used light brown, but think dark might have been better).
- 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or just serve with lime wedges)
- steamed white rice for serving (keeping with the Thai idea, I used jasmine rice)
Preheat the oven to 275. In a blender or food processor, combine the curry paste, ginger, scallions, garlic, and water, and process until smooth. In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Salt and pepper the short ribs. When the oil is hot, add the ribs and cook for about 4 minutes a side to brown them. When the ribs are browned, pour off the excess fat from the pan. Add the chicken stock, lemongrass, and the curry mixture from the blender. Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer to the oven. Cook until they are fork tender, about 3-4 hours.
If you’re using a slow cooker, brown the short ribs in the Dutch oven, then transfer them with the above ingredients to the slow cooker. I started mine on high, and turned them down after an hour, if you don’t want to tend them, just put them on low.
Transfer the short ribs to a cutting board and shred the meat into large pieces. Skim the excess fat from the cooking liquid. Add the meat back to the cooking liquid, and add the coconut milk, brown sugar, jalapeno, cilantro and the lime juice. Cover and cook until the stew is hot but not boiling about 5 minutes. Serve over rice, and enjoy.
My rating: 4 stars. Because they were in the freezer, I tossed some Thai kaffir lime leaves into the pot with the lemongrass. The recipe says to leave the lime juice out if you are saving some of the ribs and to serve them with lime wedges, so that’s what I did. I’m not sure if I would go to the trouble of shredding the meat the next time I make this. It’s nice to have the short ribs with the bones. At the end, I left the ribs in the Dutch oven on low heat, uncovered, for a while before serving them, and they were fine. When I make them again, if I use the slow cooker, I would just add everything to the slow cooker, cover it, and let it run on slow for a few minutes.
Frank’s rating: 4-41/2 stars. He didn’t give it 5 stars because he’s saving that rating for something spectacular. That being said, this was his favorite of the cook-along recipes so far.
My friend Will’s rating: 4 1/2 stars.”Thought the short ribs were tops!”
