Slow Cooker Pork Vietnamese Short Ribs with Udon Noodles

Have you ever visited foodgawker.com? If not, you're doing yourself an injustice. It is, hands down, the the best recipe website I have visited thus far. It introduces you to an infinite amount of food blogs and the culinary possibilities are endless!

This Sunday I typed in SHORT RIBS and found this gem from www.jonesing-for.com. We made a few changes to suit our pallets as well as what we had in our fridge/pantry. It still tasted fabulous with the changes and I think it's safe to assume it would without them!

Ingredients

For the short ribs:

• 1 Tbsp. canola or peanut oil
• 2 lbs. beef short ribs, trimmed [We used pork short ribs.]
• 2 shallots, sliced [We used one big onion since it's what we had on hand.]
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small knob fresh ginger, sliced [We were also out of fresh ginger, so powdered ginger was the way I went...I know, it's sacrilegious..shame on me.]
• ¼ cup fish sauce [We used soy sauce in place of fish sauce..my hubby is not a fan.]
• ¼ cup dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Sriracha
• 2 cups beef stock [We like the flavor of the pork with beef stock, however, you could use chicken stock in its place.]

For the Udon noodles:

• 6 oz. Udon noodles, cooked
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into curls (ribbons)
• 1 package of mushrooms
• Juice of 1 lime
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce [We also substituted soy sauce for fish sauce here.]
• 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. Sriracha
• ½ cup torn cilantro
• ¼ cup torn mint leaves
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeno
• 1 Package of bean sprouts [The original recipe did not call for these, however, we added them in because we are bean sprout lovers.]

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over high heat and pour in the oil. Pat the short ribs dry with paper towels, and then sear in hot oil on all sides. Turn after about 1 minute on each side, for a total of 6 minutes. Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon and toss in the shallots and garlic. Quickly stir around for 30 seconds getting some color on the vegetables, but don’t burn them. Remove with a slotted spoon and kill the heat.
2. Pour the ¼ cup fish sauce [or soy sauce], ¼ cup dark soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. Sriracha, and 2 cups beef stock into the bowl of a 5-6 qt. slow cooker. Whisk in the cooked shallot, garlic, and fresh ginger. Put the short ribs into the slow cooker and turn to coat in the sauce a few times. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or until fork tender and the bone slides out easily.
3. Before serving, prepare the rice noodles. Whisk together the lime juice, 3 Tbsp. fish sauce/soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp. honey, 1 tsp. Sriracha, cilantro, mint, jalapeno, and bean sprouts. Toss noodles with carrots, cucumber, and sauce. Serve alongside or under short ribs.