Braised Pork Ribs with Prunes and White Wine – Caucasian Recipe
Wherever the national culture allows pork, braised pork ribs with vegetables, or even with fruit, are bound to be on the menu. Caucasian cuisine, or more precisely the cuisines of the Caucasus, are known for particular ingredients, often found only in the Caucasus, and pork braised with various vegetables and dried plums is a very common dish there.
It so happened that the dishes of Caucasian cuisines came to be loved all over the world. Many have gained worldwide popularity: kharcho soup, tkemali sauce, Caucasian shashlik, khinkali, satsivi and so on.
There is a huge choice of sauces, from sweet or sour to fiery hot. Every possible version of adjika, satsebeli, tkemali. Bazhe sauce, made with nuts and wine vinegar, stands out in particular.
Caucasian cuisine is impossible without sour fruit. Both wild fruit, such as tkemali plums, sloe and cornelian cherries, and garden fruit, such as cherry plums and plums, are used. Tkemali is especially popular, although it is often successfully replaced with plums. Dried or even smoked fruit is used too. Dried plums, that is prunes, are an amazing thing for cooking. Add prunes to a dish and it becomes not just special: it takes on a flavor like nothing else.
Braised cabbage, bigos, is unthinkable without prunes. And how delicious a homemade festive beetroot salad with prunes is!
Adding prunes to meat is a whole separate topic. I once discovered that the famous American dish, barbecue ribs, which unfortunately is often made with liquid smoke, a hellish chemical cocktail, becomes a noble dish if you replace the chemicals with prunes. That is how this recipe was born: braised ribs with prunes and vegetables.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Pork ribs 0.7 kg
- Dried prunes 100 g
- Onion 1-2
- Celery stalks 2 stalks
- Garlic 2-3 cloves
- Dry white wine 0.5 cup
- Salt, khmeli-suneli, utskho suneli (blue fenugreek), black pepper, dried hot chili pods to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- It is best to take pork ribs with a thin layer of fat, so you don't need any extra fat for frying. Cut the ribs into large pieces, one bone per piece. No other preparation is needed.
- Slice the onion into rings. And separate them, so that they really are rings, not rounds.
- Be sure to wash the prunes and soak them if they are hard and dry. And by the way, be sure to remove the pits if there are any. Don't use too many prunes, or you'll end up with jam with meat. The stated amount, 100 g, is quite enough.
- Fry the pork ribs in a well-heated pan until browned. There is no need to add oil or fat. The pork will almost immediately render a little fat and everything will be just right. Fry the ribs in a “dry” pan until golden brown. It is best to stir the pieces of meat fairly often.
- Add the sliced onion and diced celery stalks. Fry for 4-5 mins, stirring constantly.
- The onion should soften and start turning golden.
- As soon as the onion is golden, add salt, a scant teaspoon of khmeli-suneli and 1-2 pinches of ground blue fenugreek (utskho suneli). What makes khmeli-suneli unique is that this blend contains many aromatic spices, such as coriander and hot red pepper, as well as herbs: basil, dill, marjoram, saffron and so on. Meat with khmeli-suneli is always delicious. You can also add pepper and a few small dried chili pods, without breaking them.
- Fry for a few more minutes, then add the prunes and dry white wine. Add finely chopped (not grated!) garlic. Cover the pan with a lid and braise the ribs over low heat for 30 mins.
- There is no need to add water: let the ribs braise in the liquid released by the meat, celery and wine, practically in their own juices.
- Take the pieces of pork ribs out and set them aside on a separate plate. Keep simmering the sauce uncovered until it becomes thick, with almost no liquid left.
- Spoon the sauce onto a plate and arrange the braised ribs and prunes on top.
- Serve the braised ribs only hot, with fresh bread or homemade khachapuri with young cheese.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 246 |
| Prep: | 15 mins |
| Cooking: | 45 mins |
| Ready in: | 60 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | Caucasian cuisine |
| Rating: |
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4.7
(11)
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