Friday, February 8, 2013

Finger Lickin' Good Curried Ribs

Football is to West Texas is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It's big. It's an annual event, a sacred time, full of pomp and festivities, rituals and superstition. Life is scheduled around games.

I, however, don't understand American football. Maybe it's because I grew up with real football (what American's refer to as soccer), where the players actually kick the ball with their feet or maybe I'm just too artistic to get into the sports mentality...whatever the reason, I'm clueless.

When I first started writing for a West Texas newspaper, I was told all reporters (especially new ones) had to help cover Friday night games. I gave it my best shot and worked a few Fridays, but inexplicably found myself to be exempt from the requirement and only having to worry about my regular beats -- business and City Hall (I think the area coaches begged the paper to take me off the schedule).

Then I married a West Texan and found myself having to attend Superbowl parties. It didn't help matters when the clueless Bengali chick won part of the winning pot (pure dumb luck as some said).  Anyhoo, my understanding of American football comes down to: It's a Texas/American thang.

So when my #Letslunch posse on twitter chose game-day food as the February theme, I had the perfect recipe. What could be better game-day TV eats than ribs? Can't get more Texas than beef...and it has my usual Bengali twist: finger lickin' good curried ribs!

Here take a look:

The best part is it's an easy recipe:

2 to 3 pounds ribs (beef or pork)
1 large onion, roughly sliced
8 to 12 garlic cloves, peeled, some smashed and others left whole
2 inch piece of ginger, cut into coins (I don't even peel them because you discard them after cooking)
(2 to 3 large sticks of cinnamon
5 cardamon pods, with tops broken open
6 cloves
8 to 10 whole pepper corns
OR you could replace the whole spices -- a tradition of Bengali cooking-- with 1 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala)
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
4 to 8 dried red chillies, broken in two (optional)
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 14.5oz can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes

Directions:

Put the ribs and raw flavorings (onion to ginger) into a large cook pot.


Add the spices and salt:


Add the oil and mix it up good, so every rib is nicely coated:

Put on the stove at medium low heat to cook, covered. Check on it from time to time and give it a good stir. After about 6 or 8 minutes, add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all) and let it all cook down. Keep an eye on it and stir from time to time to make sure nothings sticking to the bottom.


Cook it down until you end up with yummy ribs like in the first picture. Sorry, forgot to time it. You can serve this with warm naan bread or over cooked Basmati rice, and don't forget the cold beer!

 #Letslunch is a group of food bloggers, cookbook authors and foodies from around the globe who hold monthly virtual potlucks. It's a lot of fun!

Check out the other yummy posts:


Annabelle's Idiazabal and Black Pepper Gougeres at Glass of Fancy
Cheryl's Mongolian Buuz at A Tiger in the Kitchen
Grace's Taiwanese Beef Sliders at HapaMama
Jill's Spiced Pecans at Eating My Words
Karen's Sporting Eats at GeoFooding
Linda's Trio of Salsas from Oaxaca at Spicebox Travels
Lisa's Sausage Rolls at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy's Crabcakes with Chipotle Mayo and Citrus Salad at A Cook and Her Books



16 comments:

  1. beer, spice, fingers & no napkins....what's not to like?

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  2. Ooh, I love ribs. And curry. I wish we could get together and have a big Superbowl party where we just eat, nevermind the game!

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  3. That looks SO good! I second HapaMama's idea to get together and have a big party!

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  4. Rashda, these look amazing! I'm a ribs fanatic, and am always looking for new ways to try them. Thanks for sharing this with us!

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  6. Ooh these look smashing....ribs are one of my favourites too.

    I'd love to also try your take with lamb ribslets.

    Love the idea of a singapore get together so if it comes about would be keen as it's not that far from down here in Sydney!

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  7. Yum! I helped cover a few high school football games back in my local newspaper days. I still don't understand football...Great post!

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  8. I once had to stand in for the sports photographer and take pictures at a Ram's game. That was ... interesting. They put me down on the field because I didn't know enough about football to write about it ... I was nearly trammeled to death by TV camera men on several occasions, and then a player made a dive for the ball which was on a collision course with me. Reporting on football games is a very dangerous sport! I would love to try these ribs and second the idea of having a big party someday somewhere in the world. :)

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    Replies
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