Good Chinese dishes

Andrew Wong’s Michie’s sweet and sour ribs. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura

Andrew Wong’s Michie’s sweet and sour ribs

I learned the recipe for these ribs while I was in Sichuan and since then it has even found its way to the island of the Seychelles where my sister-in-law Michie makes a special request for them whenever my family and I fly over. I am hoping that, armed with this recipe, she can now make them herself!

Serves 4
vegetable oil for deep-frying
toasted sesame seeds 2 tbsp
sesame oil 2 tbsp

For the ribs
pork ribs 500g, separated into individual ribs
spring onion 10g, roughly chopped
fresh root ginger 5g, peeled and sliced
fermented black beans 5g
Shaoxing rice wine 1 tbsp
light soy sauce 1 tbsp
dark soy sauce 2 tsp
salt 3g

For the sticky sauce
sugar 500g
water 800ml
Chinese red vinegar 150ml
malt vinegar 150ml
star anise 5g

For the ribs, mix all the ingredients together and steam over a low heat for 2 hours or until the ribs are tender but just holding on to the bone. Remove the ribs from the steamer and leave to cool and dry.

Heat the oil for deep-frying in a deep-fat fryer to 180C. Deep-fry the ribs, in batches, until they darken slightly in colour. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

If you don’t have a deep-fat fryer, fill a deep pan with oil – the oil should come far enough up the sides of the pan to cover the ribs. However, you can also shallow fry them with a few tablespoons of oil just to crisp up the surface of the ribs.

For the sticky sauce, bring all the ingredients to the boil in a large pan, stirring, and cook until the mixture reduces to a honey-like consistency.

Add the deep-fried ribs and cook until the sauce sticks to the ribs. Add the sesame seeds and sesame oil to finish.

Jeremy Pang’s steamed wontons in chilli broth

When it comes to learning about Chinese pastries, wontons are the best starting point. The pastry comes ready-made in most Oriental supermarkets, and is very much like an egg pasta. The method of folding below creates a shape much like a gold ingot (pre-20th century Chinese currency) and it is said that if you can fold your wontons in such a shape, you are giving your friends and family plenty of good wealth for years to come!