1.3kg meaty pork ribs
for the marinade:
80g fresh root ginger, roughly chopped
1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled & roughly chopped
2 sticks lemongrass, outer leaves discarded, inner roughly chopped
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground (or a little more if you like things hot!)
to serve
lime wedges to squeeze over
birds eye chilli, finely sliced, to garnish
Hang a ziplock bag into a bowl to hold it open and place the pork ribs inside. Add all the marinade ingredients to a deep jug and pulse with a stick blender until you have a smooth paste. Alternatively, place everything in a food processor and blitz to a paste.
Scoop the marinade into the bag and squidge the bag about to mix it through. Seal up tight and leave in the fridge for as long as possible. If you can, turn the bag over a few times to keep the marinade circulating.
When you are ready to cook, fire up your barbecue to give you a low, indirect heat. Because of the honey in the marinade you want to cook the ribs slowly for a long time - they will take a good hour, turning every now and then. If they are colouring too quickly simply move a little further away from the heat source.
Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over and a little scattering of red chilli for an extra fiery kick!
Here meaty pork ribs are given a spicy Asian twist with a heady mix of ginger, garlic, lemongrass, honey and soy. In Cambodian cooking its common to use plenty of black peppercorns in place of chilli to give a fiery heat to many dishes. For extra zing, I garnish these with sliced birds eye chillies but feel free to leave these out if you prefer. Ideally, leave the ribs marinading for 12-24 hours in the fridge before you want to cook to allow all those lovely flavours to soak in.
Serves about 4 depending on greed
Cambodian pork ribs
By Genevieve Taylor
Photography Rob Wicks, Eat Pictures @EatPictures
47