Asian Style Ribs

How good are ribs?  I confess I’m a late-comer to this sticky world but I’m glad I’ve now arrived.  They’re not something I’ve cooked often and I never order them out cause they leave me feeling like I’ve got a big saucy face and in bad need of a toothpick.  But at home, just the four of us, who care about such things?  And what a great Saturday night meal if you just don’t feel like takeaway.  I’m not a big one for pre-marinated meats unless they’re good quality – we’ve had ribs in the past which have been way too loaded with salt and overly smokey flavours.  This sweet, sticky homemade Asian marinade is much more up my ally.  We had these over the weekend with some simple fried rice and they were finger licking good.  The boy ate more than I did!  Yum.

Ingredients

1.5kg pork spare ribs

½ cup hoisin sauce

1 tbsp grated ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

½ cup Chinese rice wine

1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder

2 tbsp sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Cut the ribs into individual pieces.

To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients (bar the ribs) in a large bowl.  Add the ribs and toss to coat.  Reserve the remaining marinade for brushing.  place the ribs on a wire rack, in a baking dish or pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, then brush with the reserved marinade.  Bake for a further 20 minutes or until well browned and crisp.

Serves 4