Rice Cooker Black Bean Pork Rib Soup 电饭锅黑豆排骨汤

I love black bean pork rib soup, but I hardly cooked this. Reason? I couldn't soften the beans despite hours of simmering =_=

In one of the episodes of Channel 8 program, "Life Hacks", I learned the trick of shortening the cooking time of beans. The soaked beans were first 

frozen, then thawed before cooking. When water freezes, it expands in size, thus "cracking" the structure of the bean internally. After thawing, the beans become porous, so easier to soften.

This trick works wonderfully. The black beans become soft within 1 hour of cooking (^-^)

Equipment: rice cooker with "Soup" function

Ingredients

40~50g organic black beans 有机黑豆

400~500g pork ribs 排骨

1~2 cloves garlic 蒜头

1 slice ginger 姜

1 stub coriander root (optional) 芫荽根

300～400g water 水

1/2 tsp rice wine 花雕酒 

Salt & seasoning powder 盐和调味料

Directions

1.  Wash black beans and pour very hot water to soak them for about 1 to 2 hours, or till the beans swelll, and some of the bean skins cracked.

2. Keep the soaked black beans in an air tight container, and place in the freezer overnight.

Thaw the frozen black beans before cooking.

3. Wash and rinse pork ribs. Season with 1/4 tsp each of sugar and low-salt light soya sauce for about 15 minutes.

4. Pour in the boiling water and parboil the ribs for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Drain away the water and set aside.

5. Cut 1 slice of ginger, lightly crush the garlic, and cut 1 stub of coriander root.

6. Turn on the "Steam" function of the rice cooker to heat up the inner pot.

Heat up about 1 tsp of olive oil and add in the ginger, garlic, and coriander root. 

Stop the "Steam" function when the ingredients become fragrant.

6. Turn on the "Soup" function, and set the "Cooking Time" to 1:20 minutes.

7. Pour in the pork ribs to stir-fry for about 1 minute. 

 Add 1/4 tsp of rice wine.

follow by the thawed black beans.

8. Pour in about 300 to 400g of water to cover about 3/4 of the ingredients' height.

Close the lid and let the rice cooker continues the cooking process. 

Stir the ingredients once in a while to ensure even heating.

10. When the cooking process ends, season the soup with salt and seasoning powder to taste.

11. Let the ingredients simmer for another 1 to 2 hours for a softer texture using the remnant heat of the rice cooker.

Enjoy it warm with steamed rice :)