Mexican braised beef short ribs

By: Ben O'Donoghue
From: At Home with Ben
Serves: 4-6
Photographer: Mark Roper

I love the flavours of this Mexican-style dish. Chipotles, or smoked jalapeno chillies, give a wonderfully earthy, smoky quality to the meat. You can buy them at good European delis, either in a can or jar with tomato sauce, which I prefer for this recipe, or as dried loose chillies. Using beef ribs is really cost effective – you can shred the leftovers and freeze the meat with the extra sauce, then use it to put together a tasty nacho-style sauce.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
12	beef short ribs
	flour tortillas
	sour cream, to serve
2	limes, cut into wedges, to serve

Marinade

Quantity	Ingredient
6	chipotle chillies in adobo sauce
1	garlic clove, chopped
1 cup	orange juice
1/2 cup	lime juice
400g	diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons	dried wild oregano
1/2 teaspoon	ground cumin
2 tablespoons	white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons	salt
1/2 teaspoon	freshly ground black pepper

Hot chilli sauce

Quantity	Ingredient
6	habanero chillies, (remove the seeds if you prefer a milder flavour)
or 8-10	very hot red chillies, (remove the seeds if you prefer a milder flavour)
1	large onion, chopped
400g	diced tomatoes
1/2 cup	white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon	salt

Coriander salsa

Quantity	Ingredient
2 tablespoons	chopped coriander leaves
10	spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
1	green capsicum, finely chopped
1	lime, juiced
	freshly ground black pepper

Method

Purée the marinade ingredients in a food processor, then transfer to a large shallow roasting dish. Add the beef ribs to the marinade, turning to coat. Cover with foil and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
To cook the ribs, place the covered roasting dish in the oven and leave to cook for 3 hours, until very tender. The sauce should be thick; skim off any fat. When cooked, keep the ribs warm.
To make the hot chilli sauce, combine the ingredients and bring to a boil over medium–high heat. Reduce the heat to medium– low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick. Cool slightly, then purée using a hand-held blender.
To make the coriander salsa, combine the coriander, spring onions and capsicum in a bowl. Pour over the lime juice and season with pepper.
Warm the tortillas in a hot oven or grill them until soft, then wrap them in a tea towel to keep warm.
To serve, present the beef ribs on a large dish accompanied by the tortillas and bowls of hot chilli sauce, sour cream and coriander salsa, with lime wedges on the side. The idea is for everyone to pull the meat off the bones and combine it with pieces of tortilla, some salsa and chilli sauce to make delicious mouth-sized parcels.