Asian Style Pork Ribs #CrockPot Challenge Day 1

....And we're off!!!  For the next five straight days, I'm participating in a Crock Pot Challenge hosted by Tammi over at Momma's Meals.  Thanks, Tammi for hosting this fabulous event!  This was exactly the motivation that I needed to dust off my Crock Pot!

In addition to Tammi, two of my Sunday Supper teammates are contributing as well.  Make sure to stop by and visit Sarah from Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends and Laura from Small Wallet Big Appetite.  Although we are the only ones formally participating each day, there are lots of other bloggers and non-bloggers that will be doing Crock Pot recipes throughout the week and sending them over to Tammi.  Tammi will do a round-up at the end of the week, feature pictures of some of the best dishes, and there's even a Crock Pot giveaway happening.  For more information on that, make sure to stop by the Momma's Meals site.

So first, let's talk about the equipment used in this challenge.  I own five crock pots in varying sizes and temperature settings.  The one that I always fall back to is my 1970s Rival Crock Pot.  For some reason, it seems to heat like no other slow cooker I've used... it's fast and even.  I'm not sure if it's because of the quality from the 1970s, or if it's because it's a true "Rival" Crock Pot rather than a basic slow-cooker, non-Rival brand. 

For the first day of the challenge, I decided to try something totally out of my comfort zone-- Asian and pork.  I'm not used to cooking pork all that much, and we typically stay extremely basic when we're working with Asian food.  This recipe required me to search for ingredients-- and it was well worth it!  I found the recipe by searching on Pinterest.... it brought me to One Perfect Bite.  Here is the original recipe titled Asian Style Country Ribs with Black Bean Garlic Sauce.



Asian Style Pork Ribs as done by From Fast Food to Fresh Food

Ingredients

• 3 pounds of boneless country-style pork ribs cut into 1-2 inch pieces
• 3-4 tablespoons black bean garlic sauce from a jar (found in the Asian section of your local grocery store or in an Asian food store)
• scant 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
• 2 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sliced green onions

Directions

Spray the inside of your crock pot with a non-stick cooking spray.  In a small bowl, mix the black bean garlic sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, honey, ginger, garlic, pepper, and corn starch until combined and the corn starch is fully dissolved.  Put the pork pieces on the bottom of the sprayed crock pot.  Pour the sauce mixture over the pork.  Cover and cook on the Low setting for approximately 5 hours. Do not cook much more beyond 5 hours!  Transfer the pork into a medium sized bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.  Carefully transfer the hot sauce/liquid into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Cook until the mixture is reduced by half and starts to thicken.  Stir in the sesame oil.  Add sauce and 1/4 cup green onions to the warm pork pieces.  Mix until all the pork is coated in the sauce.  Garnish with the remaining sliced green onions.   Serve over rice.

The whole family was very surprised that this meal came from a crock pot!  Both the texture and the taste were unlike anything we'd every had from a slow cooker.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Make sure you stop by the other contributors to see what they have planned for Day 1 of the #CrockPot Challenge.  When you stop by, don't forget to show them some love and leave a comment! We love to know that we've had visitors!

Tammi at Momma's Meals is cooking up Beef Stroganoff In the Crock
Sarah at Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends is featuring Brisket kind of Pastrami
Laura at Small Wallet Big Appetitie is serving Crockpot Pork Roast in Salsa Verde

See you tomorrow where I'll be featuring one of my favorite party dips........

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