Spring is coming and I am devoted to watch the weight. And thus I use oven a lot.
This is a very aromatic Sichuan style sauce mainly includes doubanjiang, which is considered as the soul of Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan peppercorn oil and spices. The Sichuan peppercorn oil gives the ribs a very unique flavor. It is not numbing after the long time roasting but bring a unique aroma to the ribs.
One of the interesting ingredients I used in this recipe is Sichuan peppercorn oil. This oil is used to store the aroma of fresh Sichuan peppercorn tree. The best harvest time of fresh green Szechuan peppercorn is July. Fresh green Szechuan peppercorn oil(known as 麻油) in Szechuan area. It is only popular in Szechuan cuisine and quite hard to find even in other areas in China. We use it in lots of Szechuan style salad. Unlike common red Szechuan peppers, green peppers are quite hard to preserve. This is one of the creative way to store the aroma in the oil. I never introduce this in other recipes previously because I know it is quite hard to find it. However now this product is available!
Another advantage of this dish is it can be served after cooled. I made this several batches and then bought most of the ribs with the picnic food. The ribs even present better flavors after cooled for hours.
Firstly soak the ribs with clean water for half an hour to remove any odd taste.
Now make a sauce, mix oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, doubanjiang, Sichuan peppercorn oil, cumin powder and chili powder (or barbecue mix).
Add 3 tablespoons of water and mix all of the seasoning together.
Mix sauce and well drained ribs.
Roast at 160 degree C for 40 minutes. Then higher the temperature to 180 degree C and continue roasting for another 10 to 20 mins.
Other Rib Recipes
Chinese BBQ ribs with Hoisin sauce
Soft fried garlic ribs
Pan-fried cumin ribs
Braised ribs with potatoes
Sweet and sour ribs
🧾Recipe
Roasted Mala Ribs
Ingredients
- 8 long ribs
- 1.5 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1.5 tbsp. doubanjiang
- 1 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 tbsp. minced ginger
- 1 tbsp. chili powder or barbecue spice mix
- 1 tsp. cumin powder
- 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn oil or you can get the oil from 50 Hertz Food or fresh Sichuan peppercorn powder as a substitute
- cumin, chili powder and Sichuan peppercorn powder for serving
Instructions
- Now make a sauce, mix oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, doubanjiang, Sichuan peppercorn oil, cumin powder and chili powder (or barbecue mix).
- Add 3 tablespoons of water and mix all of the seasoning together.Mix sauce and well drained ribs.
- Roast at 160 degree C for 40 minutes. Then higher the temperature to 180 degree C and continue roasting for another 5 to 10 minutes (watch out very carefully in the last stage and stop roasting before burnt ribs)
Nutrition
MattW
Just curious, why do the ribs look like they have barely any meat on them? I have always enjoyed gnawing off the little crispy bits from the bones the best, so these look amazing. But did you prep these in some way so that they're all just covered in crispy bits? Did you trim the meat?
Elaine
No. I don't trim the meat. But after long time roasting, the meat is dried and shrunk.
Denny
Highly flavorful and very easy to make.
I do have some suggestions for cooks outside China. I'm in the US and the pork ribs we have here are significantly meatier than these shown in Elaine's photos. I purchased St. Louis style ribs that had already been sliced into individual pieces and made twice the amount in Elaine's recipe. Because my ribs were meatier, I doubled the amount of all the flavoring ingredients, then added a bit extra. Next time, I might take the time to break down the broad beans in my pixian doubanjiang so I don't have big pieces of bean.
The biggest change I made was in the roasting method. I used a half sheet pan with a baking rack to elevate the ribs and was able to fit all 16 pieces. I then added about 2-3 cups of water to the pan to create a steaming effect while the ribs roasted at 325 degrees. It took about 2 hours for the ribs to be dark and crispy on the outside but still juicy and soft on the inside.
My whole house smelled amazing while it was cooking! I didn't bother with a dip. The ribs were plenty flavorful. I will say that they smelled spicier than they tasted.
Elaine
Denny,
Thanks so much for your information. I never thought about the meat part. We get really only a small amount of meat around the bones. But I am happy to know you figured out the differences. And I love to read your feedback!! Happy cooking!
Denny
You have improved my cooking so much - I'm more than happy to provide any information I can. ?
I wish I could upload photos so you can see the ribs I made with your recipe Pork ribs in the U.S. are usually sold as entire racks. When purchased as individual pieces, the racks are divided between the rib bones. Sometimes the area where the rib attaches to the back is trimmed so it's smaller, but meat is never taken off along rib bone.
Nico
made this 2 days ago. brilliant, but next time would opt to use less (or no) cumin for the main recipe as the BBQ mix already has quite a bit, and while great, for pork ribs it was a bit overpowering. still, much recommended, and love the addition of green sichuan pepper oil which tastes like its leaves (Kinome in Japanese cooking).
Elaine
You get it Nico. Sichuan green pepper oil is the key ingredient.