Ribs - Barbecue, Sweet & Sour and Salt & Pepper.
This is a really easy and delicious way to make your favourite ribs, be they salt and pepper, sweet and sour, or barbecue.
You don't require any special skills, just a few basic ingredients, and the desire to eat well!
The ingredients are basically, ribs, salt and pepper mix (see my page tricks and techniques, this is really easy), and olive oil. The rest depend on the style of ribs you want. So let's get started.
Place the ribs in a resealable plastic bag, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper mix, close the bag, and shake well in order to cover the ribs with the mix, then repeat the operation adding 2 or 3 spoonfuls of olive oil.
If you are going to make either salt and pepper ribs, or sweet and sour ribs, you may like to add 2 spoonfuls of olive oil and 1/2 a spoonful of sesame oil.
LEAVE TO SOAK OVERNIGHT IN THE FRIDGE.
Place the ribs in a baking tray, cover the tray with foil, and place in the centre of a preheated oven at 180°c for 25 minutes.
When the 25 minutes have elapsed, remove the tray from the oven (do not turn off the oven), and remove the foil covering.
If you want salt and pepper ribs, just give them another quick dusting with the salt and pepper mix, and return them to the oven, uncovered, for 10-15 min, until browned.
If you want sweet and sour ribs, you can make the sauce whilst the ribs are in the oven. It only takes a couple of minutes.
Mix a tablespoon of ketchup (any unbranded ketchup will do), a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce (any sweet chilli sauce or sweet and sour sauce will do), and a healthy drizzle of soya sauce, in a bowl until emulsified (blended together). Then when you take the ribs out of the oven, cover them with the sauce, and return them to the oven, without a foil cover, for 10-15 min.
If you want a barbecue sauce, you can also make it whilst the ribs are in the oven, but time will be tight. The plus however, is that you will be making plenty of a really tasty barbecue sauce that you can store in the fridge and use to top pizzas, chips, sandwiches etc. etc.
Boil the skin of an onion in 1/2 a can of coca-cola (this may seem strange, but it adds a smoked flavour to the sauce), giving it a quick stir in order to remove the bubbles, for about ten minutes.
There is no need to vigorously boil the coca-cola, once it begins to boil, lower the heat and simmer for the ten minutes.
Once the 10 min. have passed, add a pinch of hot chilli powder, two spoonfuls of brown sugar, 1/4 bottle of ketchup (any unbranded ketchup will do), and 1/4 bottle of brown sauce (HP or any other of it's type), then continue to simmer for 3-5 min.
You can then cover the ribs with the sauce immediately you remove them from the oven, then return them to the oven, without the foil cover, for 10-15 min.
The rest of the sauce should be allowed to cool before pouring it into a suitable bottle and storing in the fridge.
That's it !
The whole operation should have taken you no more than 45min, and that is plenty of time for you to have been able to make either chips, boiled rice, or even fried rice to go with them. As you can see, I did both chips and fried rice!!
