Chinese Five-spice Spare Ribs is a traditional Chinese recipe for a classic dish of pork spare rib pieces marinated in rice wine, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and cornflour that's cooked by simmering in a five-spice flavoured sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Chinese version of: Chinese Five-spice Spare Ribs.
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These melt-in-your-mouth Chinese spare ribs with a sticky, sweet sauce are ideal for a Chinese New Year meal or party. Pigs forage forwards and are symbolic of advancement in the year ahead. As such, pork is an auspicious meat to serve for Chinese New Year.
Ingredients:
For the spareribs:
750g pork spareribs
600ml groundnut (peanut) oil
For the marinade:
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese black rice vinegar or cider vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornflour
For the sauce:
2 tbsp finely-chopped garlic
2 tsp five-spice powder
3 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
3 tbsp Chinese rock sugar or granulated sugar
3 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
150ml chicken stock
1½ tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dried grated orange peel
85ml Chinese black rice vinegar or cider vinegar
Method:
Separate the spare-ribs into individual ribs then cut the ribs into chunks about 7.5cm long (have your butcher do this if you're not confident doing it yourself).
Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl then add the sparerib pieces and steep in the marinade for about 25 minutes at room temperature. Remove the spareribs from the marinade with a slotted spoon.
Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or large wok. When the oil is very hot and slightly smoking, slowly brown the marinated spareribs in several batches until they are brown. Drain each cooked batch on kitchen paper. (Leave the cooking oil to cool. Strain it through a filter if you want to re-use it when cooking pork.)
Put the sauce ingredients into a clean wok or frying pan and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat, add the spareribs, cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If necessary, add a little water to the sauce to prevent the spareribs from drying up. Skim off any surface fat, turn onto a warmed serving plate and serve immediately.
