Nothing beats crispy, tender take away style salt and pepper spare ribs! It’s simple, inexpensive, easy and delicious! Try my ultimate take away style ribs, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!
Everyone loves takeaway style ribs right? When my husband and I go to our local Chinese, it’s guaranteed that he’ll order the most expensive starter on the menu, which is the Iberico dry ribs. OK, fair enough, Iberico pork is pretty expensive, but I don’t think it’s worth €9,00 for 5 pieces of plain ribs. Especially not from the local takeaway.
Back when we lived in the UK, our favourite Chinese had these salt and pepper chilli spare ribs on the menu, and they weren’t €8,00 for sure! We loved them but have never really had anything similar since moving to Spain. So of course, with any dish I love, I try to replicate them at home, and so far I think I’ve nailed it!
Delicious Salt and Pepper Spare Ribs
The type of ribs certainly makes a difference in the tastiness of your ribs. I like to use short ribs or baby back ribs with a good equal ratio of meat and fat. If you have too much meat then the ribs can be dry, so finding the right balance really makes a huge difference in taste and juiciness.
How to make take away style salt and pepper spare ribs
OK, making salt and pepper ribs involves a few steps, but don’t be discouraged! Once you taste how delicious they are, I promise you’ll want to make them again and again.
For this recipe, you will need 1kg of ribs, which’s enough to serve 4 people. Even though the cooking time is short, the boiling time of the ribs can take to an hour to two hours. I find that for a kilo of ribs 1 and a half hour is sufficient.
Boil the ribs
Firstly you will need to wash the ribs before boiling. Rinse them at least twice, by doing this reduces the scum that will float on top of the water while boiling. Place the ribs in a large pan and fill with water until it covers the top of the meat.
You can then add the star anise, salt and bay leaves. Boil for about 1 hour. You want the ribs to be tender, but not falling off the bone so it becomes difficult to handle. Otherwise, you’ll end up with ‘mushy meat’, and that’s not what you’re trying to go for.
Once the meat is done, set it aside in the juice for at least 30 mins, allowing it to cook down a little. Once cooled down transfer the cooked ribs on a plate or a colander over a bowl to allow the water to drain.
Fry the garlic
Chop 2 cloves of garlic and fry them in 1 tsp of oil. Make sure to stir the garlic frequently so it doesn’t burn. You want crispy, golden pieces of garlic to sprinkle on the ribs so avoid burning them otherwise it’ll be bitter. Once done, set aside on a paper towel.
Prepare the onions
Thinly slice the onion, chillis and spring onions. For this recipe, I used 3 Thai chillis without the seeds. I grew these last year and I know they’re potent and I didn’t want to spoil the taste by making it too hot! Of course, it’s completely up to you how many chillis you want to add but bear in mind that it can get pretty hot if you also add the seeds. Set the veggies aside until later.
Coat the ribs in batter
Prepare the batter by adding flour, cornflour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Add the water a little at a time, you want the batter to be smooth and to have a thinner consistency. Coat the ribs with the batter so it gives a slight crunch without the doughy texture.
Cooking the ribs
Heat up 500ml of oil in a wok. Place the ribs into the prepared batter and stir until the ribs are covered. Fry in oil until golden brown, and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Do this until all the ribs are fried.
Last step
In a separate wok, heat up 3tbsp of oil and fry the onions, chilli and spring onions for 5 minutes or until the onions are slightly translucent. Add in the fried ribs and mix well making sure it’s evenly coated. Drizzle 1 tsp of sesame oil and season with salt and crushed black pepper before serving.
To make this dish even more impressive, why not pair it with my Deliciously Easy Creamy Coleslaw Recipe in 5 Minutes! These two really go well together!
Chilli, Salt & Pepper Ribs
Take away style tender, crispy and spicy Salt and Pepper Chilli Spare Ribs coated in a thin crispy batter. Served on a bed of soft onions.
Ingredients
For the ribs
- 1 kilo short ribs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- water
Ribs batter
- 45g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 25g cornstarch/potato starch
- 100ml water
- 1/2 tbs soy sauce (optional)
Ribs seasoning
- 3 1/2 tbsp oil
- 1 whole onion, strips
- 1/2 cup scallions
- 2 tsp roasted garlic
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- salt & pepper
