Szechuan salt and pepper ribs

• 450g pork spareribs (short cut ribs)
• 1 tsp coarse or rock salt
• ½ tsp coarse black pepper
• ½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns
• vegetable oil
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• 2 spring onion, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• ½ tbsp Ginger, sliced

Marinade

• 1 heaped tbsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp five spice powder

Method

1. Gently heat the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry pan for 1 minute. Cool and grind in a pestle and mortar or a pepper grinder.
2. Mix the salt, black pepper and Szechuan peppercorns together.
3. Place the spareribs, water, corn starch and five spice powder into a large bowl. Mix well, clingfilm and marinade for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.
4. To cook the spareribs, heat the vegetable oil in a wok or deep frying pan. You can drop in a cube of bread into the hot oil and it should brown in 30 seconds.
5. Add the spare ribs and cook for about one minute, remove and drain well and set aside.
6. Now heat the oil again until it is almost smoking. Return the spareribs to the hot oil and cook until they start to turn brown. Drain on kitchen roll.
7. Remove all the oil from the wok and quickly stir fry the sliced garlic, chilli, ginger and spring onion.
8. Add the cooked spareribs to the wok, sprinkle the salt and pepper mixture over the ribs. Quickly mix together and serve.