Delicious Sticky Pork BBQ Ribs Recipe
Day 8 of the Healthy Eating Plan with recipe for Sticky Pork Ribs.
..... don't forget to follow me on Pinterest for lots of fabulous recipes
Dinner for tonight is Sticky Pork BBQ Ribs and we just can't wait - don't they look incredible? Well that's because they are, such a great dinner and who would guess that it's lower in fat than most of the rib recipes on the internet.
I am a very happy bunny this morning, I've been healthy eating for 2 weeks now and when I weighed myself this morning I found that I had lost 5lbs, despite not having increased my activity levels and having had a couple of Saturday takeouts with the family.
Of course you can always have healthy versions of takeouts, our favourite takeaway is Indian food and if I'm eating healthily I opt for a dish like Jeera Chicken off the bone, some kind of sizzling dish either fish or chicken, or my personal favourite Tandoori Chicken and Pilau Rice, (sorry the plain rice just does not do it for me, it's like drinking skimmed milk and you all know what I think of that), so Tandoori Chicken is delicious, it has no sauce and is baked in a Tandoori Oven so now frying or fat is involved and there's normally a salad served with it, although I prefer to prepare my own while it's being delivered or my husband/son is out collecting it. You really can have your takeaway and eat it - and still lose weight.
So if you're out there wondering if this plan could actually work - the answer is YES!
Breakfast
30g of Tesco Fruit & Fibre Cereal; containing wheat flakes, raisins, bananas, coconut, apple, hazelnuts and almonds, with 80ml of 1% fat Whole Milk.
1 Slice of One Clever Loaf; malted wheatgrain with seeds thinly spread with Flora Light and Marmite.
1 Satsuma.
Comment: Great breakfast, loved the Tesco version of Fruit & Fibre, lots of fruit and nuts and very tasty and much cheaper than the Kellogg's brand. This bread is a definite favourite now, great tasting, love all those seeds; poppy seeds, millet, and golden linseed which is really good for you and very filling - AND 100% of the profit from this bread supports community bakeries in rural Africa, meaning jobs and food for them and their families - feel good factor with an A+.
Lunch
Today's lunch is tuna salad:
- Take half a small can of tuna (in brine or spring water) and drain.
- Place the tuna in a bowl with a sliced tomato and 2 finely chopped spring onions.
- Now add half a small can of your favourite beans, I used flageolet beans because I love their texture and colour with the rest of the salad, drain the beans and toss together with some oil free French salad dressing - there's lots of different versions available and of course if you don't like French dressing as long as you use an oil free/fat free version you can have whatever you like.
Plus 1 crusty roll for soaking up all the juices and spooning the tomatoes and tuna onto - yum in a bun!
Was that too cutesy?
Dinner - Sticky Pork BBQ Ribs
Isn't it amazing how excited people get over BBQ Ribs, the whole family loves these and considers them a treat but cooked this way they are a low fat meal which no-one will believe. I'm serving these with some steamed new potatoes and sweetcorn, for those in the family that are not concerned with their weight I will be showing you a recipe for hot potato salad which we have all Summer long and is a real family favourite and very quickly devoured whenever we have a barbecue, everything this evening is a pure joy to cook because there's practically no preparation or work, so if you're tired of being in the kitchen this is one of those recipes that practically cooks itself.
Ingredients to serve 4 people:
1.25kg of pork spare ribs
A 2 inch piece of Ginger, grated or 1 teaspoon of Ginger Powder
8 tablespoons of runny honey
8 tablespoons of Dark Soy Sauce
6 tablespoons of Dry Sherry or Extra Dry Vermouth
A few (or a lot) of dashes of your favourite Hot Sauce
I always have the majority of these ingredients in my cupboards so all I have to go out to get is the pork ribs from my local Butcher.
Method:
- Let your pork ribs come to room temperature and place them in a shallow dish big enough so that they can all lie in one layer.
- Mix together all the ingredients and pour the mixture over the spare ribs, turning them to coat the meat thoroughly in the dark glossy marinade.
- It's best to prepare these overnight so that the marinade can sink deep into the meat but even a few hours will make all the difference, and if you've left preparation to the very last minute just leaving them to meld together while you have a well-earned cup of tea or coffee will enhance the flavours in the finished dish. Whatever you're doing don't worry they will taste good no matter how long you've given them and the Food Police aren't going to come and arrest you.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4.
- Double wrap your oven dish in foil which can be discarded and then there's no scrubbing to do at the end of the meal.
- Place a mesh tray inside the oven dish and place your ribs on top, this way the meat will cook thoroughly, and the ribs will be sticky and delicious.
- From time to time baste the ribs with some of the marinade and cook for 20-30 minutes depending on how well done you like your ribs and how thick the ribs are. You can also grill the ribs for about 30 minutes under a medium hot grill if you prefer, again basting occasionally with the marinade.
- Turn the ribs over and repeat the last step, for the same amount of cooking time.
- While the ribs are cooking pour the rest of the marinade into a small saucepan or a small non-stick frying pan and heat through, bubble well for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce coats the back of your spoon thickly. When the spare ribs are cooked remove them from the oven and drizzle the sauce over them.
- Serve piping hot with a generous amount of salad.
As you can see from the photograph above we had the Ribs with Oven Roasted Fingerling Potatoes which uses ½ a tablespoon of olive oil to roast in the oven and produces gorgeous perfect potatoes, you can find the recipe at the website "Chef In You" which specialises in Vegetarian and Vegan recipes (see link below).
For those of you with hungry kids or adults who are not trying to lose weight you can could prepare the Hot Potato Salad recipe below:
Hot Potato Salad
- Steam plenty of new potatoes until the tip of a knife enters the skin easily. The reason I've said plenty is that these are so delicious vast quantities tend to disappear very quickly, AND this is also excellent cold the next day, if any of it manages to survive.
- Finally chop some spring onions/scallions, using the entire vegetable, there's a lot of posh chefs out there telling you that you should only use certain parts of it, rubbish eat it all, it tastes great - they don't tell you only to eat the tips of carrots and chuck the rest away do they? Okay rant over.
- Chop the potatoes into halves if they're small or thirds if they're slightly larger, add the spring onions/scallions and a few tablespoons of a good mayonnaise (you don't need vast quantities for this as the mayonnaise will melt from the heat of the potatoes and cover them all easily).
- Now stir and there you have wonderful hot potato salad.
Eileen's Soapbox Moment: Whichever country you are in please support your own locally grown produce, this delicious free range pork was sourced from a local farm. Something I've recently noticed is that a lot of the honey on sale and sold by local and national companies is actually coming in from abroad and only being packaged here, please make sure that what you buy is locally produced, it helps local people in a bad economy and cuts down on the carbon footprint of our food.
