I’m not a very carnivorous person, but when it comes to spareribs I know when I start to eat but I do not know when I will stop

This time I tried a recipe (with some small modifications) from Curiously Ravenous, who in turn, replicated a recipe from her Chinese grandfather.

I would encourage you to try it, it is literally and figuratively to lick your fingers!!

Ingredients:

- pork spare ribs (I used 2 regular racks, the ones you find in any supermarket)

- 1 inch/ 2.5 cm ginger, grated

- 1 cup / 235 ml water

- some freshly ground black pepper

- 2 whole star anise

- 1/2 Maggi cube (chicken stock cube)

- 2 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

- 3 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking instructions:

Cut the meat strips in individual ribs. Put them in a large pot, fill with water, boil for 1 hour.

Drain the ribs and dry them with some kitchen towels. The original recipe recommended to then fry the ribs in a wok with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, but I found that this step can be skipped without any major sacrifice of the taste, while it is a little healthier.

Alternatively, if you are short of time or starving to death, you could omit the boiling and just fry the ribs, but they won’t be as tender…

Now mix the rest of the ingredients to make the sauce (feel free to double the quantities if you are making lots of ribs or if you like them with lots of sauce), pour it in a wok together with the ribs and mix. Leave for a couple of minutes until the ribs are well coated in hot sauce.

Serve with plenty of kitchen towels

Enjoy!!