Braising is the best way to cook short ribs. Not only does the meat get completely tender, but the braising liquid reduces during the long, slow cooking to become an intensely flavorful sauce. The braising liquid here has ingredients you might expect—like crushed tomatoes and red wine – but the addition of tamari and a generous amount of ginger yields a deeply flavorful sauce. The apricots are a nod to Middle Eastern braises.

This recipe was developed with ribs that were on the smaller side (weighing only 2 ½ pounds total), but there is enough braising liquid here for slightly weightier ribs.

Because of the flavor profile of this braise, I suggest serving it over rice or couscous, rather than mashed potatoes. But noodles would work, too.

Serves 3 to 4

• 2-1/2 to 3 ½ pounds English-style beef short ribs (8 ribs)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper
• 1 cup medium-diced carrots
• 1 cup medium-diced onions
• 1 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
• ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup lower-salt chicken broth
• 1/4 cup lower-sodium tamari
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley and/or mint

rice, couscous, noodles, or potatoes for serving

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange your oven racks (removing one if necessary) to accommodate your pot.

2. In a medium-large (7 to 8-quart) Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil with the butter over medium heat. Season the ribs with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add half of the ribs to the pot, and cook, turning with tongs, until nicely browned on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the ribs to a platter and repeat with the remaining ribs. Pour off all but a thin layer of fat from the pan.

3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, the carrots, and the onions to the pot. Season with a little salt. Cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, about 6 to 10 minutes.

4. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the apricots.

5. Pour about 1/2 cup of the red wine into the pot and cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot, until the liquid is reduced to a few tablespoons, about a minute. Return all the ribs (and any juices that have accumulated) back to the pot. Pour the tomatoes, chicken broth, soy sauce, remaining wine, and 1 cup water into the pot. Using tongs, arrange the ribs as evenly as possible.

6. Bring the liquid to a simmer, cover, and put the pot in the oven. Cook, turning the ribs with tongs about every 45 minutes for a total of about 2 to 2 ½ hours (a bit more if the ribs are very large.) The meat may fall off most of the bones about midway through cooking; this does not mean that the ribs are fully tender. Check more frequently towards the end of cooking and if you feel like the pan sauce has thickened too much, add a small amount of broth or water to the pot.

7. Serve the ribs with rice, couscous, noodles or potatoes, with the sauce spooned over them, sprinkled with chopped parsley and/or chopped mint.