Salt and Pepper Ribs

How to make crispy Chinese salt and pepper ribs.

I am a rib fan! The best part of pig in my opinion is pork butt (pork shoulder), pork belly and ribs. There are so many possibilities of ribs, either stewed (rib soup with lotus root) or pan-fried (pan-fried cumin ribs), deep-fried (fried garlic ribs) or roasted (Chinese BBQ Ribs).

The ribs are coated with flour and egg, then fried until crispy and golden brown. The inner side of the ribs are soft and tender with a crispy shell. The fried ribs can be served directly with salt and pepper, or for a richer flavor, tossing with peppers, garlic, ginger and green onions. 

In Sichuan cuisine, salt and pepper (椒盐) is referring to a special flavor: Sichuan peppercorn and salt.  Sichuan peppercorn is fried with salt over slow fire in order to simulate the aroma. Then ground into powders. Sichuan style salt and pepper has a very unique flavor comparing with common black pepper and salt. I highly recommend you trying Sichuan salt and pepper if you get Sichuan peppercorn on hand. 

How to make Sichuan style salt and pepper

• Toss 3 tablespoons of Sichuan peppercorn and 1 tablespoon of salt over slow fire until aromatic and until the salt is slightly browned. 
• Cool down completely and ground into powder. Shift to get refined powders. 
• The salt and pepper powder can be kept in air-tight container for 1 month. 

Cook’s Note

1. After soaking the ribs with clean water, the ribs should be drained completely. Any water contained might influence the final flavor. 
2. Marinate the ribs for a longer time. Overnight marinating is recommended if you are not in a hurry (at least 4 hours marinating is needed)
3. I have gotten lots of feedbacks from Chinese steamed ribs with black bean sauce and know some of the ribs are quite hard to cook. So please choose ribs from younger pigs.
4. After coating the ribs with flour, let them stay for 10 to 15 minutes so egg liquid and flour can be combined well. Otherwise, the coating flour falls a lot during deep-frying process.

Steps

Soak the ribs with clean water for 30 minutes and change the water at least once. This is to remove any dirty parts and raw taste.

Drain completely and then place all of the marinating ingredients except egg and coating flour at least for 4 hours or over night.

Just before cooking, crack an egg and mix with the ribs.

Coat the ribs with potato flour or starch around 10 to 15 minutes before frying.

Heat oil until there are fine small bubbles surrounding when insert a chop sticker. Place ribs in and fry for 6-8 minutes over small fire. I recommend frying the ribs for two batches. Strain and remove extra oil.

Prepare a pan, add 1/2 tablespoon of oil and fry garlic, ginger, fresh peppers until aromatic. Place ribs in and toss with salt and pepper. Serve with extra salt and pepper for option. 

Salt and Pepper Ribs

Traditional Chinese salt and pepper ribs

4.86 from 7 votes

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Course: Chinese

Cuisine: Sichuan cuisine

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Marinating: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 519kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g ribs select ribs from younger pigs

Marinating

• 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 2 tsp. starch corn starch or other type

Coating

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup potato flour or other flour for coating
• Frying
• 2 cups of oil

Tossing

• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil 
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 2 green onion white part only, finely chopped
• 1 fresh green pepper chopped
• 1 fresh red pepper chopped
• Salt and pepper as needed

Instructions

• Soak the ribs with clean water for 30 minutes and change the water at least once. This is to remove any dirty parts and raw taste.
• Drain completely and then place all of the marinating ingredients except egg and coating flour at least for 30 minutes or over night.
• Just before cooking, crack an egg and mix with the ribs.
• Coat the ribs with potato flour or starch around 10 to 15 minutes before frying.
• Heat oil until there are fine small bubbles surrounding when insert a chop sticker. Place ribs in and fry for 6-8 minutes over small fire. I recommend frying the ribs for two batches. Strain and remove extra oil.
• Prepare a pan, add 1/2 tablespoon of oil and fry garlic, ginger, green onion and fresh peppers until aromatic.
• Place ribs in and toss with salt and pepper. Serve with extra salt and pepper for option. 

Nutrition

Calories: 519kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 134mg | Sodium: 807mg | Potassium: 381mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Vitamin C: 19.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 3.2mg