A delicious and easy pork rib recipe: Thai pork curry prepared with homemade curry paste.
Pork ribs are a cheap staple for the non Malays in Malaysia, although I must say: life is getting more and more expensive by the day here in Malaysia. being a Muslim country, pork is mostly found in the Chinese cuisines. However, do know that some shopping malls like KLCC in the center of Kuala Lumpur isn’t selling any pork at all.
The below recipe is a typical fusion cooking recipe: it looks like a Belgian stew that normally starts with frying the meat, but the added ingredients are more what you would find in Thai recipes.
The curry tastes best when made with Thai green curry paste. You can equally try to use this quick and easy red curry paste. If you happen to have Thai curry powder, you are good to go as well. However when you use Indian curry powder, the taste will be quite different as Indian curry uses turmeric and cumin, where not so easy to find Thai curry powder uses spices like galangal and lemongrass.
The below recipe for pork ribs uses quite some sugar. To balance the sweetness, serve this easy Thai dish with extra lime or add some yogurt. Taste and adjust, as it is a fusion recipe based on my own palate 
Easy Thai pork rib recipe ingredients
- about 1 pound (500 grams) pork ribs, in Malaysia they are cut in about 2 inch (5 cm) pieces
- 3 lime leaves
- 2 tablespoons curry paste or Thai curry powder
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- juice of half a small lime
- about 1 cup (250ml) milk (in authentic Thai recipes they will use coconut-milk
- about half a cup (125ml) of water
- more water if during the cooking your pork rib curry becomes dry
How to make Thai pork curry
-
Use Thai green curry paste or make a paste by adding a little water or (coconut) milk to the Thai curry powder. Heat some oil in a wok or pan and fry the paste until the flavors come out. - Add the meat and stirfry until the meat is sealed on all sides.
- Add boiling water and stir in the other ingredients: milk, Thai fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice. Add the lime leaves and make sure the mixture keeps to a boil so the meat keeps tender.
- When not all the meat is covered with liquid, you cover the pot or pan, reduce the heat and cook the pork ribs for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the meat is tender. If you have a lot of liquid in your pot, then simmer the meat without a lid.
- The ribs are ready when the pork meat falls of the ribs, or when the fat that came out of the ribs is clearly visible on your Thai pork curry sauce.
