Ingredients:

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns

2 bird’s eye chilies

1 ½ kilograms pork baby back ribs cut between the bones

salt

pepper

½ cup cornstarch

cooking oil for browning

2 cups bone broth you may need more

¼ cup soy sauce

½ cup fresh orange juice

zest from two oranges

1 one-inch knob ginger there is no need to slice

sugar

To garnish

orange wedges

sliced chilies

Instructions:

In an oil-free frying pan, toast the cinnamon stick, star anise, Szechuan peppercorns and bird’s eye chilies until aromatic. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the pork ribs with a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Add the cornstarch, cover the bowl and shake until all meat pieces are coated with starch.

In a frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of about an inch and a half.

Brown the pork ribs in the hot oil, turning them around for even browning. Do this in batches, browning only a few pieces at a time.

Place the browned pork ribs in a wide pan. Ideally, there shouldn’t be more than two layers of meat in the pan.

Pour the broth, soy sauce and orange juice over the pork ribs. Ideally, there should be just enough liquid to cover the meat.

Throw in the ginger, orange zest, toasted cinnamon, star anise, Szechuan peppercorns and chilies.

Simmer the pork ribs, tightly covered, without stirring for an hour to an hour and a half, or until the meat is fork-tender. Taste the sauce every 20 minutes or so. Add more salt, if needed. And, if your orange juice is more on the tart side, you may want to add sugar to the sauce for balance.

Using tongs, lift out the pork ribs one by one and arrange on a serving plate or bowl.

Pour the sauce (there won’t be much) over the ribs.

Garnish your sweet spicy orange pork ribs with orange wedges and sliced chilies.