One mustn't confuse this Sichuan classic with the Cantonese version of sweet and sour dishes so popular in the west. Its Chinese name means sugar and vinegar chicken spareribs, obviously sweetness comes from the sugar and sourness from Chinese Chinkiang vinegar. A dish often associated with pork ribs but I decided to use chicken spareribs instead since I happened to have some in the fridge.
Like all the Chinese classics that I prepared in the past week, this is a very simple dish with no hard to get or fancy ingredients needed, just all the basics and lots of love!
serves 4 as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
500 g of chicken spareribs
1 tbs of grated ginger
dash of soy
dash of sesame oil
dash of Chinese cooking wine
3 tbs of corn flour
for the sauce;
3 tbs of Chinkiang black vinegar
2 tbs of light soy
4 tbs of sugar
dash of sesame oil
1.5 tbs of corn flour
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cm knob of ginger, minced
1/2 cup of stock
toasted sesame seeds
Marinate the chicken pieces for at least an hour.
Mix all sauce ingredients (except the stock, ginger and garlic and sesame seeds), set aside.
Fry chicken pieces til golden and crispy.
Fry ginger and garlic with a little peanut oil then pour in the stock follow by the sauce mix, cook til the sauce thicken.
Place fried chicken on top of some mixed salad leaves.
Pour the sauce over and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. Serve immediately as part of a Chinese meal.
