Tom Sab (Spicy and Sour Pork Rib Soup)

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North of Thailand has so many delicious food and this one also comes from the Northeast of Thailand. This pork and soup combination works so well. The pork is juicy and flavorful and the soup is spicy and sour. The 3 main ingredients of lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves make for an explosion of flavor. This is basically Thailand in a bow. We love to enjoy it with fresh jasmine rice.

Ingredients

600g split pork ribs
3 Lemongrass
1 Shallots (Large)
1/2 tomato
7-8 slices of Galangal
2-3 Kaffir lime leaves
6-7 Mushroom
2 tbsp Thai chili paste (I use extra hot, but you can get the medium hot one as well)
1.5 cup coconut milk
2 cup of stock (vegetable, pork or chicken)
2 tbsp fish sauce
2.5 tbsp lime
2-3 stalks of cilantro
1 Green onion
1-2 Thai red chili

Directions

1. In a pressure cooker, drizzle in some vegetable oil and turn the heat to medium. You can also cook this in an Instant Pot
2. Add in the pork ribs and sear the meat. (Instant pot sear the meat in Sauté mode)
3. Add 1.5 cup of stock or until the meat is covered then close the lid. (Instant pot: Pressure Cook mode at high pressure for 13 minutes)
4. After the pressure cooker has reached the pressure point leave the heat on for 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Let it sit in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes then release the pressure. (Instant Pot: Let it sit in there for 10 more minutes)
5. Skimmed off the fat and discard them from the pressure cooker

6. Thinly slice shallots, cut lemongrass into 1.5″ long pieces and pound it a little bit, roughly chop up tomatoes, crunch up some kaffir lime leaves, cut up galangal into 1/8 of an inch thick slices, quarter up some mushroom. Clean, peel and devein the shrimps.
7. In a medium pot over medium high heat drizzle in some oil and stir fry shallot, lemon grass, galangal until shallot is starting to turn brown. Next, add tomato, the pressured cook ribs with the soup, and the remaining stock.

8. When the soup starts to boil add Thai chili paste and fish sauce and simmer for 10 more minutes.
9. Turn off the heat and add in lime juice and Thai red chili. We want to add in lime juice after the heat is off so that the soup doesn’t turn bitter. This step is crucial and important not to miss.