Sweet and sour lamb ribs

Tam West

This recipes comes from Auckland restaurant Little Jimmy. Chef Russell Billing uses New Zealand lamb ribs, given an Asian sweet and sour treatment and slow-cooked so they are very tender. Ask your butcher for lamb ribs, and head to the Asian grocer for chinkiang vinegar and Korean soy bean paste. The rest of this dish is nice and easy. For more about Little Jimmy, see Ray McVinnie's interview with Russell here.

Lamb ribs

2 kgs	Lamb ribs (Main)
2 Ltr	Beef stock

Sweet and sour sauce

500 g	Caster sugar
100 ml	Water
150 ml	Chinkiang black vinegar
170 ml	Fish sauce
150 g	Doenjang, Korean soybean paste
3	Lemongrass stem, white part only, very finely chopped
2 Tbsp	Chopped ginger, finely chopped
10 cloves	Garlic, finely chopped
2	Long red chillies, small ones, very finely chopped
2 Tbsp	Ground cumin

To serve

10 servings	Poppadoms
1 drizzle	Lime juice

Directions

1. Make a caramel: Put the sugar and 100ml water into a heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Resist the urge to stir, instead just allow the heat to begin to transform the sugar. Gently swirl to dissolve the sugar in the water and move things around a little bit.
2. Once a golden caramel is achieved, remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients. Be careful, as the mixture may spit. At this point, the sugar will start to solidify. Place back on the heat and bring the mixture to the boil again, stir and simmer until the sugar has re-melted and you have a uniform sauce, cool then transfer to an airtight container

Lamb ribs

1. Sear the lamb ribs in a hot frying pan then place in a deep casserole dish and cover with boiling stock. Place in the oven for 90 minutes at 160C.
2. To serve, fry the lamb ribs in a frying pan with oil to get them crispy, then add the sweet and sour sauce to the pan, and cook until the ribs are nice and sticky all over. Finish with a squeeze of lime, to help cut through the fats and sugar and serve with poppadom shards.

More recipes from Russell

• Trevally kokoda
• Beef cheeks with beetroot puree confit baby beets and turnips