HOISIN PORK SPARE RIBS

Today marks the Lunar New Year, the year of the dragon. If you’re celebrating tonight, I have just the recipes to bring in the new year with a bang! Spare ribs are such a crowd-pleaser and these ones with a sticky hoisin glaze won’t disappoint. Serve them with some chicken chow mein, sweet and sour prawns and fried rice for a Chinese banquet to rival your favourite takeaway.

PREP: 10 MINS COOK: 1 HOUR AND 30 MINS SERVES 4

Juicy spare ribs braised with a chilli and hoisin sauce that make a succulent side dish to any Chinese feast

600ml groundnut oil

1kg pork spare ribs, separated into individual ribs

FOR THE BRAISING SAUCE

850 ml chicken stock

2 tbsp chilli bean sauce

1 tbsp granulated sugar

75 ml Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry 1½ tbsp dark soy sauce

2tbsp light soy sauce

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 spring onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp whole yellow bean sauce (optional)

3 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tbsp cornflour blended with 3tbsp water

1 Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer or large wok and deep-fry the spare ribs until they are brown and crisp. Do this in several batches, draining each cooked batch well on kitchen paper.

2 Combine all the sauce ingredients in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the deep-fried spare ribs, cover and simmer for about 1 hr or until they are tender. Drain off the sauce and remove any remaining fat.

3 Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas

4. Put the spare ribs on a rack in a roasting tin and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins until they are brown, basting with the braising sauce every 5 mins. 4 Using a cleaver or a sharp, heavy knife, chop the spare ribs into 6cm-long pieces. Turn them on to a warm serving platter and serve immediately.