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This is the best sweet vinegar spare ribs I’ve ever made! Running out of the proper Chinese vinegar, I used balsamic vinegar instead; thought I’d do a bit of fusion cooking 😉

The special step of this recipe is to add a tablespoon of wine just before you finish cooking. Adding the wine then turning off the heat immediately will make sure the wine doesn’t evaporate completely, to maximise its flavour. 

Cooking Chinese food doesn’t mean you need every single Chinese ingredient in the recipe. Chinese cooking wine is quite easy to get in most supermarkets or on Amazon, but the specific type of Chinese Chinkiang vinegar used in this dish is not so common. Just use balsamic vinegar, it works well 🙂

And if you’re not a fan of pork, you can use chicken thigh for this recipe. It’ll work just fine!

Ingredients

300g spare ribs
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

Marinade

1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
Pinch of Salt 
Pinch of pepper
1.5 tbsp cornflour or plain flour

Method

Pat dry the spare ribs and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Shallow fry the spare ribs on medium heat until golden brown. This will take about 10 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your ribs.

Remove the spare ribs from the oil and put them back in the hot pan.

Add balsamic vinegar, sugar and soy sauce, and cook over medium-high heat until the sauce thickens. Taste and add more balsamic vinegar or sugar to adjust to your taste

When the sugar vinegar sauce thickens, add 1 tbsp of cooking wine. Turn off the heat, stir, and serve. 

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