Pork Ribs with Green Papaya Soup (青木瓜排骨汤)

Made this soup a few weeks back and it has now become one of my favourite lazy day soups.

Ingredients

Feeds 2 – 4

• 1 Pork Bone (Leg) – halved
• 2 medium size rib cut to 2″ – 3″ pieces (ask for the section of ribs with more meat)
• 1 unripe (green) papaya (remove skin and slice into quarters)
• 2L filtered water
• Salt
• Optional: Sliced cabbage

Method

I use a “Thermal Insulated Cooking Pot” to make my soups as my stove is electric so I can’t boil the soup for many hours ($$$). So the method here is meant for that. I use an Empress Magic Cooker 5.5L.

For normal stove top cooking: Prep the ingredients the same way. Boil 2L of water, add all ingredients into the pot and let it boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat, cover, and let it simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours (until meat is tender).

The night before (preparing the pork bone soup stock):

1. Parboil pork bones to remove the blood. (I usually blanch with hot water then boil it for 5 mins to remove the blood.)
2. Add 2 liters of filtered water into the large inner pot, add pork bones and bring to a boil
3. Let it boil for 5 – 10 minutes then transfer into the thermal insulated cooking pot and leave it overnight (approx. 8 hours).

Note: The insulator pot keeps warm for about 8 hours max. Sometimes I boil it again just before heading to bed.

Morning:

1. Remove pot from insulator and bring to a boil again.
2. While waiting for the soup stock to boil, blanch pork ribs to remove blood
3. Remove skin & seeds from green papaya, slice and quarter
4. Add blanched pork ribs and sliced green papaya into the pot
5. Bring soup to a boil and let it continue boiling for 5 minutes
6. Transfer pot to insulator and leave it for minimum 2 hours, max 8 hours. (at this point I usually leave for work)

Evening:

1. Remove pot from insulator and bring to a boil again
2. Add salt to taste
3. Soup is ready to be served

Note: I usually come home from work, take the pot out from the insulator, and bring it to a boil again while I cook rice and other side dishes. After letting it boil for 5-10 minutes, I put it back in the insulator until I’m ready to have dinner.

Note 2: The optional cabbage can be added in the evening if wanted while the soup is boiling. I usually add it in the next day because I always have left over soup and ribs.