As you may have guessed, there is nothing sincerely Chinese about these ribs, but they really are amazing, even if I do say so myself. They can be made gluten-free simply by substituting ordinary Soy Sauce for the gluten-free kind.
The main thing to focus on with ribs, is boiling them. Yes, I know, boiling meat sounds totally rough, but it really is the way forward in order to get them falling-off-the-bone-tender.
Ask your butcher for a rack of ribs to serve four. I prefer to use shorter, meatier ribs that the long ones, purely because I love meat, but it works just as well with either kind, as you can see here, I used the long ones.
First thing is to heat your water and pop the ribs in, for about two hours. Then remove them from the pan and let them cool.
For the marinade:
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbs soy sauce (add more to taste)
3 tbs seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar
3tbs tomato sauce
2 tbs honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger (add more to taste)
1 tsp ground paprika (add more to taste)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
about half cup water
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, adding more soy, ginger and paprika to taste. What I aim for is a tangy sweetness with a hint of ginger. Of course, if you like a stronger ginger flavour add more, even chop some fresh ginger root up if you like.
Once the ribs have cooled, cut them individually and marinate them in half of the sauce mixture for about an hour. If you can do longer, like overnight, great, but it's not essential. The first night this recipe was created was in response to a panic created by our Coeliac friend when we realised the sauce from the recipe book had gluten in it so it was a mad rush to get the marinade just right and an hour was fine.
Once you've marinated them, you want to heat the oven to about 180 degrees, pop them in a dish and bake for about 45 minutes, checking throughout that they aren't drying out. If this happens, add the sauce mixture bit by bit. The aim for the first half an hour is stickiness so they do need a bit of monitoring. You want them to look slightly caramelised.
Once the ribs are cooked, remove them from the tray and add water (and any remaining sauce mixture) and mix up to form a sauce. You shouldn't need more than half a cup of water. You can serve the sauce on the side, or do as I did and pour it over the ribs. This way you have the delicious, sticky but ever-so-slightly-crispy texture of the ribs combined with a juicy sauce, which tastes great on the rice as well.
Serve with steamed or boiled rice and Chinese greens, like pak choi, fried in a little sesame oil, soy and seasoned rice wine.
