Oooh! Is there anything more enjoyable than melt-in-your-mouth, fall off the bone ribs? Ooh. I don’t think there is. I don’t eat pork often, but when I do, it has got to be like this, where layer upon layer of flavour is packed into every single fibre, and the sensation of eating it makes your mouth sing. Piri Piri sauce was made famous abroad by the Nandos brand, but it has deeply African roots in southern African countries like Mozambique and SA. Made from a variety of birds eye chillis, it is a really beautiful and elegant source of heat in food and goes oh so well with anything barbecued. To feed all the guys coming to lunch on this day, I made multiples of this recipe so I know it scales up really well. Let me know if you try it!
Ingredients
2 racks of pork ribs (baby back or spare)
2 small cans of Guinness (about 600ml)
1 apple, seeded and cut into wedges
2 bay leaves (or sage leaves)
4 tablespoons piri-piri sauce (or 2 tablespoons piri-piri mixed with 2 tablespoons ketchup)
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Method
- Start with a clean rack of ribs with the membrane removed. Season with salt and pepper and place in a pot.
- Add the apple slices and bay leaves to the pot and then pour over the Guinness. Set the heat to medium and allow the ribs to cook until tender. Once cooked, take off the heat and allow to rest.
- Now mix the piri-piri sauce with a small splash of olive oil and then brush the ribs generously with this mixture before cooking further on the barbecue. Continue to baste the ribs with this mix until the meat is nicely charred and takes on that spicy smokey flavour. Serve!
Tip – the remaining stout from cooking the ribs makes a wonderful gravy. Why not pop this in the freezer and enjoy it later with some roast potatoes.
This recipe is from Season 1 Episode 3 of Minjiba Entertains, commissioned by The Africa Channel and showing on RealTime DSTV Channel 155, Emirates in-Flight Entertainment, Amazon Prime, and Demand Africa.
