Recipe: Chrissy Teigen's Thai Soy-Garlic Fried Ribs
Don't miss Rita Braver's interview with Chrissy Teigen on the primetime special, "Sunday's Best: Celebrating 40 Years of CBS Sunday Morning," Friday, September 14!
Supermodel and social media star Chrissy Teigen has another title: bestselling cookbook author. Teigen penned the 2016 book "Cravings," and this month a sequel, "Cravings: Hungry for More" (Clarkson Potter), is being released.
Of her recipe for Thai Soy-Garlic Fried Ribs, Teigen writes, "Making ribs at home can be sooooo intimidating. Pretty much every rib recipe involves hours of smoking or slow-baking and, in the end, I'm saying, 'I could have just ordered these from Uncle Andre's.' (That's one of our favorite L.A. BBQ spots #nospon #notpaidforthat.) Anyway, enter Pepper Thai with the perfect solution: Fry the ribs!
"These Thai fried ribs are so easy! Just a few ingredients and a few minutes and you have hot, juicy ribs with a soy-garlic-rubbed Thai twist. Fry some ribs for your next football party. Your friends will leave happy even if their other team scores all the home runs."
Thai Soy-Garlic Fried Ribs
Serves 2 to 4
Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
1 rack baby back pork ribs (12 to 14 ribs), separated into individual ribs
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
7 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 quarts vegetable oil, for deep frying
Pepper's Red-Hot Pepper Sauce (recipe below), for serving
Put the ribs in a large bowl. Add the soy sauce, garlic, and black pepper to coat. Let stand at room temperature.
Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat to 370°F. (Use a deep-fry thermometer or test the oil by throwing in a little piece of bread or some bread crumbs; if they sizzle immediately but aren't burning, you're ready.) Working in batches of 4 or 5, fry the ribs until just cooked and well browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Bring the oil back to 370°F between batches and try to skim our any stray bits of garlic so they don't burn in the oil and make it taste like burnt garlic.
Serve with Pepper's Red-Hot Pepper Sauce or just watch your baby chew on them with nothing at all!
Pepper's Red-Hot Pepper Sauce
Makes 1/2 cup
Active time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons toasted Thai red chile powder (see below)
2 Tablespoons hot water
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon Toasted Rice Powder (see below)
10 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
In a small bowl, combine the chili powder and hot water, Stir in the fish sauce and toasted rice powder. Squeeze in the pulp of the tomatoes (discard the skins) and stir together. The sauce will keep in the fridge for a week or so.
Thai red chile powder
Super spicy and warm, you can buy this at Thai stores or make it yourself by toasting any amount of dried Thai bird chiles (or a combo of Thai bird and other dried hot chiles) in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until they get brittle and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Cool and process in a spice grinder or mash up with a mortar and pestle.
Toasted Rice Powder
In a dry skillet, toast 1/2 cup jasmine rice over medium heat until browned, shaking the pan often to prevent burning, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the rice to a plate to cool completely. Pound with a mortar and pestle until as fine as bread crumbs (you can also do this in a spice grinder or a completely dry blender). Stored in an airtight container, it keeps forever.
From "Cravings: Hungry for More," published by Clarkson Potter. Reprinted by permission.
For more info:
- "Cravings: Hungry for More" by Chrissy Teigen and Adeena Sussman (Clarkson Potter), in Hardcover and eBook formats beginning September 18; Available via Amazon
- Follow @ChrissyTeigen on Twitter and Instagram