Jingdu ribs (Cantonese sweet & sour ribs) 京都骨

I have recently discovered Asda pork ribs are fantastic and great value. The ribs are in big chunks and full of meat. The pack I bought last week was labelled as 800g but the actual weight was around 900g.

Take a look and drool at my favourite Cantonese Jingdu ribs 京都骨 . It's sticky, sweet, sour and finger licking good.

Jingdu ribs are available in most Cantonese style restaurants. Most are quite red in colour due to added artificial colour.

My recipe is as close to the restaurant minus the red colour. One secret ingredient I do use is bicarb to tenderise the meat. Without this the meat will be quite tough (due to the short cooking time) and not the texture like in restaurants.

Jingdu ribs 京都骨

Ingredients:

800 - 900g ribs
1.25 (1 1/4) tsp bicarb
1.5 tsp salt

1 tbsp light soy
2 tsp dark soy
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp five spice
0.5 tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp cooking wine

2 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 small piece of ginger, grated
1/3 cup tomato ketchup
3 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar
2 tbsp cooking wine
2 - 3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp chicken stock granules (bullion)
2 - 3 tsp light soy
water

1.5 - 2 cups of cooking oil

garnish (optional)

Method:

Mix the salt and bicarb together, rub this onto the ribs. Leave for about 2 - 3 hours. Rinse the ribs and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Mix with soy, five spice, sugar, wine and pepper. Leave for about 2 hours or up to 8 hours (overnight).
Heat oil in wok till fairly hot. Put in the ribs and fry at medium heat for about 12 - 15 minutes, (depending on size of ribs), turning every few minutes till brown all over. Remove and set aside. Remove oil too and clean the wok.
Put in about 1 tbsp oil and fry the garlic and ginger. Then add in the remaining sauce ingredients and about 1.25 (1 1/4) cup water . When the sauce is boiling. Add in ribs, stir, cover and let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes till ribs are tender. Remove lid, stir the ribs to coat the sauce and reduce the sauce to almost dry. Then add in 1 more tbsp oil (this makes the ribs shiny), stir and ready to serve. Garnish if you like.

* if you like spicy you can add some chilli sauce to the sauce.

Jingdu ribs (Cantonese sweet & sour ribs) 京都骨