Pork Rib Stew with Foo Jook and Chee Hou Sauce is simple homestyle Chinese cooking at its best. Foo Jook, or dried tofu skin, stewed with pork ribs and sweet Chee Hou sauce is a delicious comfort food combination, and a great Chinese New Year dish to boot!
I make this Foo Jook Pork Rib Stew whenever I have a craving for fook jook, also known as tofu skin or Japanese yuba. When cooked with the pork and chee house sauce, the thin folds of tofu absorb so much rich flavor, and it has a soft and luscious texture. A bite of steaming rice, rich pork, and fook jook just hits the spot, especially in the wintertime.
Before we get into making this foo jook pork rib stew, however, I want to make a couple of points about the ingredients.
Notes on Ingredients
Foo Jook
Packages of foo jook are sometimes labeled as “bean thread” or “dried bean curd stick” in English. Click on the “fook jook bean thread” link in the ingredient list within the recipe card at the bottom of this recipe to see more details, or take a look at our Tofu and Bean curd Ingredients page while you’re shopping at your local Chinese grocery store.
Rib Tips
Second point is that I call for rib tips in this recipe. We Chinese like eating the soft pork bone or cartilage after it is cooked tender for over an hour. I am also hoping that all the collagen and glucosamine in the cartilage helps my joints as I get older!
You can see what I mean by checking out the pork rib tip photos in our recipe post for Chinese BBQ rib tips. It’s definitely a texture enjoyed mostly by Asian palates, so if you don’t like it, just have the butcher cut pork ribs in to bite sized pieces or use boneless country-style ribs.
Chee Hou Sauce
Last thing you may be wondering about is, what the heck is this Chee Hou sauce?! Even my Chinese daughters––well-versed in all things Chinese cooking––hadn’t heard of it!
There are various brands of Chee Hou sauce, each made with their own proprietary ingredients and flavors, but they are all basically a sweet fermented soybean sauce. I prefer and used Koon Chun Chee Hou Sauce for this recipe, but you can use any brand you like.
If you can’t find Chee Hou sauce, you can substitute it with 2 parts Hoisin Sauce and 1 part ground bean sauce. All of these bean sauces are described on our Chinese sauces page and have links out to sites where they’re sold on the Internet if you don’t have a local Chinese grocery store near you.
Now onto the real business of making this delicious Fook Jook Pork Rib Stew!
Pork Stew with Foo Jook: Recipe Instructions
Soak the foo jook in warm water for 30 to 40 minutes, until softened.
You may have to turn them over a couple times to ensure all sides are soaked.
Cut them into 2 inch pieces.
Meanwhile, start making the stew (the foo jook can still be soaking at this point, because the stew has to cook for an hour before it is added) heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large stew pot or Dutch oven, and add the ginger slices. Fry for 1 minute, or until browned and caramelized.
Add the ribs:
And fry until browned.
Add the chopped onion and garlic, and fry for an additional 3 minutes.
Stir in ¼ cup Shaoxing wine, ¼ cup chee hou sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 ½ tablespoons oyster sauce, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, and white pepper.
Add 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer with the cover on for one hour, giving the mixture an occasional stir every 20 minutes.
Next mix in the foo jook and the white portions of the scallions:
Ensure that the foo jook is covered in liquid.
Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes.
Remove the cover and turn the heat up higher to allow the stew to come to a slow boil. Add the rest of the green portions of the scallions.
Cook uncovered for up to 10 minutes to reduce the liquid to a thick sauce that should coat a spoon.
Serve your Foo Jook Pork rib stew with steamed rice and stir fried bok choy or another leafy green vegetable.
