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Pressure Cooker Black Garlic Pork Ribs Soup – Comforting and hearty pork ribs soup is flavored with the aromatic and sweet black garlic and Chinese herbs. This is an easy no-fuss soup recipe perfect for everyday home cooking.
Pressure Cooker Black Garlic Pork Ribs Soup
If you are thinking about stinky breath after consuming this black garlic pork ribs soup, well, you will be surprised that you won’t. Black garlic is unlike the regular garlic
BLACK GARLIC
I may be wrong, but from what I was told, black garlic was first developed in South Korea as a health product. I used to work for a health supplement company and that was my first exposure to black garlic from South Korea. The process of heating, aging and fermenting regular white garlic bulb in a controlled environment turns it into black. There isn’t any other ingredients added in the process. The amino acid and natural sugar in regular garlic started a chemical reaction after being heated and hence the darkening color. Black garlic is high in antioxidant.
THE TASTE OF BLACK GARLIC
If you are blindfolded and being asked to taste the black garlic, you wouldn’t have guessed that black garlic is actually made with regular white garlic. The taste is nothing like regular garlic. It’s mildly sweet, with a hint of tartness and soft in texture. It won’t even stink your breath, and yet still flavorful if that’s making any sense!
HOW TO USE BLACK GARLIC IN COOKING
Black garlic has a much milder flavor compared to the regular one. Usually a large amount is needed (like in this recipe) to give a substantial flavor. I like to use them in soup, just snack on them plain like that (LOVE IT!), spread them on a toast, mash them to use as marinade for meat.
PRESSURE COOKER BLACK GARLIC PORK RIBS SOUP
This recipe calls for 2 bulbs of black garlic. No, I’m not crazy. You do need this amount to get substantial flavor from black garlic because they are much more milder. The black garlic pork ribs soup still gets nice mellow garlic flavor from black garlic. The color of the soup is rather blackish due to the black garlic. I left the black garlic whole when I cook them so I could still eat them while drinking the soup.
TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE GOOD BLACK GARLIC PORK RIBS SOUP
1. Blanch the pork ribs
This will give you a clear soup without any impurities or scums
2. Add the goji berries last
Overcooking the goji berries will make your soup taste sour. They cook quickly and so the residual heat will soften them without turning them into mush
3. Extra flavor from cilantro stems
I know most people throw away the stems and just use the leaves for garnishing. The stems have a much stronger aroma that I really like.
4. Use a pressure cooker
I love using a pressure cooker for soup. It may not necessarily save much time, but I feel like the pork ribs taste better compared to when I boiled them on the stove. Most of the time things get overcooked and lost its taste when you boil it for a long time.
[disclosure]
*Recipe is written for 6-quart Instant Pot. Cooking time should remain the same for 8-quart size but will take longer to pressurize. For mini duo (3-quart), I suggest to half the recipe and use the same amount of time to cook*
Pressure Cooker Black Garlic Pork Ribs Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork ribs see notes
- 2 bulbs black garlic peeled
- 2 large carrots cut into large chunks
- 6 cups water
Chinese herbs:
- 10 Chinese red dates washed
- 2 Tbsp goji berries
Fresh herb:
- A small handful of fresh cilantro stems save the leaves for garnishing
Seasonings:
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt or to your taste
Garnishes:
- Cilantro leaves you saved earlier
- 1 stalk green onion thinly sliced
Instructions
- Place the ribs in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Discard water and rinse the rib with clean water to get rid of scums and impurities
Pressure cooker (Instant Pot) method:
- Place the ribs, water, black garlic, carrots and red dates in the inner pot of instant pot. Add the cilantro stems and seasonings. Cover the lid. Turn the steam release valve to seal. Press pressure cooker. Make sure it's on high pressure. Set the timer to 45 minutes if you use whole individual pork ribs and 25 minutes if you cut the ribs into bite size. Wait 10 minutes to release pressure entirely after that
- Carefully unlock the lid and add the goji berries to the soup. Lock the lid back. Sometimes you may have a bit difficulty doing that after releasing pressure, but if you wait a little bit, you will be able to close the lid back again. Let the residual heat cook and soften the goji berries. Read my post above for more details why we do this
- Have taste and season with salt to your taste if needed. Garnish with cilantro leaves and sliced green onions and serve warm with a bowl of rice or with noodles. Your choice!
4 comments
Any idea how to use the pressure cooker to make your own black garlic?
I’ve read about that somewhere, but I have not yet tried it myself 🙂
Marv – you are my favorite person right now. I LOVE pork ribs soup, but had kinda forgotten about it. This is just so incredible sounding, and the use of black garlic is genius! I totally have to make this.
Looks beautiful and sounds incredibly delicious. Black garlic is becoming a favorite of ours in broths for noodles… You are right – it does taste really good when you simply take a bite! Haven’t exactly snacked on it yet though:) Pinning this recipe – next week will be rainy and I will need it!