Making Coconut-Lemongrass Short Ribs That Fall Off The Bone

[Kendra] Look at that.

Hm, mm, mm-hmm.

[both laugh]

[uptempo music]

Today I'm making coconut lemongrass braised short ribs.

I absolutely love Thai food.

They have so many beautiful aromatics that

just are simple to use but infuse a ton of flavor.

This dish is so comforting, and the best part

about this recipe is that you could make this in advance.

If you have a big party or you have people coming

over tomorrow, I highly recommend making it this evening,

and then you let that sit in the fridge,

and all of the flavors are gonna just deepen,

and it's gonna taste even better the next day.

[uptempo music]

I'm using white onions.

We're gonna do a fine chop.

You don't have to be too precious about the size.

[crew member laughs]

Inez, can we please get some onion goggles?

No, not right now, I mean like, can you order them?

[all laugh]

Lots of garlic.

All my recipes call for six or more cloves, always.

I like grating my aromatics, like ginger and garlic,

because once it cooks, this all is gonna

just really melt into the sauce.

Next, I'm going to do the ginger.

I like adding ginger because it is pungent,

but it adds the nice warm spice to the dish.

Now I'm gonna do the lemongrass.

And lemongrass is so citrusy and fresh.

It's very unique.

I'm going to cut off the top,

and then I'm gonna take the back of my knife,

and just bruise the bulb.

[knife thumps]

Bruising the bulb of the lemongrass is going to kind of

open up the bulb like that, and then like release

all of those oils and flavors easily into the sauce.

And I'm gonna add Makrut lime leaves.

They're amazing.

It's like if you took a lime,

and just like intensified it, like 30 times.

And now my favorite ingredient.

I cannot live without chiles.

I would compare one Thai chile to like two Serrano peppers.

They are quite spicy, and don't discard the seeds,

'cause that's where all the heat is.

Done, let's go to the stove.

[uptempo music]

Look at this beautiful tray of short ribs.

There is such a good amount of marbling on this.

There is quite a bit of fat,

which is perfect for searing these,

and because there is so much fat on this,

you're not even going to need to put oil in your pot.

You can directly place them in there,

and then all of the fat is going to render off,

and you're gonna get like a beautiful crust on each side.

And one very important thing,

please remember to season your short ribs.

Right, we're getting somewhere.

You can see that now in the pot, there is a good amount

of like fat starting to render off and release,

and we're gonna use the same thing to saute the aromatics.

That's exactly what I'm looking for.

It's super golden, it has like a crust on it.

Fat is literally dripping from the short rib.

That means it's ready, and we can transfer it to a plate.

These are not cooked.

They will go back in the pot once we've made the sauce,

and that's like when the actual cooking

of the short rib is gonna happen.

[uptempo music]

I'm turning down the heat.

The first thing I'm gonna add are the onions.

Garlic.

And the ginger.

I'm gonna stir around the onions really quickly,

so all of them are coated in the leftover fat.

And now I'm adding the lemongrass stalks right in here.

Stir that around.

And if you feel like the pot is a little bit dry,

go ahead and drizzle a little oil

to kind of get things going.

I put on the lid here because I want to sweat the onions,

'cause we are not using as much fat at this point.

So the steam is really gonna soften

those aromatics, as opposed to fat.

I'm gonna know when the onions are done

when the edges get like slightly brown.

So I'm adding some light brown sugar,

and that's going to add some sweetness.

It's also going to help the onions

caramelize a little bit more.

And now I'm adding some turmeric powder.

I love turmeric because it adds

that like beautiful golden yellow color.

In terms of flavor, it is also like herbaceous,

just like mildly peppery.

And I'm gonna add my Thai chiles

and some Makrut lime leaves.

I'm just crushing them to kind of release

some of the oils, and then sprinkle them in here.

And you have this like beautiful

kind of clumpy, chunky paste.

Here I have fish sauce.

I only seasoned my ribs a little bit earlier,

but this is what's going to add that like

funkiness, saltiness, tons of umami to this recipe.

So I'm gonna use that to deglaze the pan

and scrape all of those brown bits from the bottom,

because that is flavor.

And now I'm gonna add full-fat coconut milk

because that's what's going to just like

thicken up and make that really luscious sauce.

I'm adding a little bit of water,

because this reduces a fair bit.

I really don't want my ribs kind of sticking

to the bottom of the pot.

And the short ribs are ready to go in.

Put any juices that you have on the plate back in the pan.

You can tell it's ready to go in the oven,

because I can see all of these little bubbles on the side.

I'm going to let this cook in the oven for about three hours

until the short rib is just like falling off the bone,

and the meat is super tender, and the sauce has reduced.

It's been 77 years, and now the short ribs are ready.

Just kidding, it's been three hours.

Our short ribs have been in the oven,

and I think they're ready.

Moment of truth.

Ooh, I see the little bubbles.

I see that the sauce has reduced,

and that's exactly what you want.

First things first, I'm gonna spoon out

all of the lemongrass that we don't need anymore.

It has completely broken down.

So I know that all of the lemongrass flavor

has definitely infused.

Look, the meat has slid right off the bone,

and that means that the ribs are definitely done.

I'm finishing off this recipe with some lime juice.

It's gonna cut through all of that fatty, short ribs.

It's going to balance out all of the flavors.

Mm, I don't think I need to add any more salt to that.

The fish sauce really brings that like saltiness to it.

Just a little more Thai chiles, fresh cilantro.

Go ahead and garnish.

And now it's time to plate.

I have a little bit of cooked rice.

So I want like a nice little piece there.

And then some sauce, just a little bit of cilantro.

My favorite ingredient.

Some red chile.

Another slice of lime, in case you need it.

There you have it.

Coconut lemongrass braised short ribs.

Zaynab, Kendra, do you want to try this?

Yes.

[Rachel] Wait, I'm nervous.

[Coworkers] Why?

Because when my coworkers taste my food,

that's when I'm most nervous.

It's so good.

It's like a 10 out of 10.

Ooh.

[Kendra] That's my favorite texture,

I think, of meat, is shreddy.

[Rachel] Yeah.

Yes, I agree, actually.

It's not too spicy.

Very mild.

Very mild, yeah.

But like the right amount of warmth.

You're a genius, you know this.

We love it.

This is rude, the fact that all three of us

are eating from this.

I really love this recipe because it kind of touches

on so many flavor profiles that I love.

It is creamy, it has umami, it's a little savory.

It's so comforting, I cannot wait to make it again.

[uptempo music]

Oh, sorry.

I was like...

[crew laughs]

[Crew member] Please, oh my God, I would love that.

This is the angle.