I was in the Tiong Bahru neighborhood and decided to pop into Foodie Market Place to have a ‘look-see’. My friend, who frequently cooks at home, recommended their beef short ribs because ‘they are the cheapest in town’.
Okaaaay. I am suspicious of things that come with a ‘very cheap’ price tag because there is no free lunch in this world, right? I am usually happy to pay for good quality meat from Huber’s or The Butcher, but there is no harm in trying out a new place.
Foodie Market Place was very crowded on the Saturday that I was there. I bought 3 kg of beef short ribs (S$100), a packet of salami (S$3), a piece of flank steak (S$5) and a packet of frozen New Zealand littleneck clams (S$10). The prices are very affordable, which probably explains why the shop was packed with Singaporeans hunting for good deals.
Verdict. The salami and littleneck clams were lousy, and I would not buy them again. The flank steak, stir-fried with vegetables, was not bad. I used 1 kg of the short ribs to make a Korean-style braised dish – something along the lines of galbijim – using Maangchi’s recipe. It was quite good eaten with rice, an onsen tamago, nori and toasted sesame seeds.
- 1 kg of beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat. Score them down to the bone a few times.
- 1 large onion (about 1½ cups)
- 6-8 garlic cloves
- 2 Bosc pears (about 1½ cups), peeled and cored
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- Blanch the short ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes. Rinse them in cold water and drain.
- Puree onion, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, pears, soy sauce, ground black pepper, and 1 cup of water in a blender.
- Place the short ribs in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add puree to the short ribs, and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the ribs turn shiny and the puree is almost gone. Keep stirring to prevent burning.
- Top the dish with toasted sesame seeds, or pine nuts.
