I adapted this Chinese-influenced slow cooker recipe from a recipe I found while perusing a Filipino food site. It originally called for boiling the ribs in water until they were tender and then tossing them with the black bean sauce in a skillet. I wanted something a bit more hands-off as far as the time spent cooking the ribs, as well as I preferred braising the ribs in an Asian braising liquid to impart some flavor to the ribs while they cooked. The slow cooker was the perfect cooking tool to achieve this. Most of the time for this recipe is invested in the slow cooker, but you’ll need an additional 10-15 minutes in prep and preparing the black bean sauce to toss with the fall-off-the-bone ribs.
I served this at a dinner party and we could not get enough of this slightly exotic Chinese dish; most of us going back for another serving. I served it over steaming white jasmine rice along with a vinegar-based cucumber salad and one of my favorite Filipino noodle dishes, Pancit (find this recipe on The Whole Meal’s website).
If you would like to treat your family and friends with something different than typical Chinese/Asian cuisine, I highly recommend you prepare this meal with the Pancit. Finish it off with fresh lychees if you can find them at your local farmer’s or Asian markets.