Grilled pork ribs with Vietnamese dipping sauce

These ribs are lacquered with a vibrant gamut of Vietnamese flavours, and served with punchy dipping sauce. Sticky-fingers are inevitable!

Grilled pork ribs with Vietnamese dipping sauce Credit: Smith Street Books

• serves

  4

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  1:35 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) pork spare or baby back rib racks, cut into individual ribs

Marinade

• 4 French shallots, sliced
• 4 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped
• 1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, chopped
• 1 cup coarsely chopped coriander (cilantro) stems, roots and leaves
• 5 cm (2 in) piece ginger, peeled and sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 80 ml (2½ fl oz/⅓ cup) fish sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp ground white pepper

Dipping sauce

• 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) fish sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small red chilli, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp lime juice

To serve

• iceberg lettuce leaves
• fresh mint sprigs
• coriander sprigs
• cucumber cut into sticks
• small red chillies, sliced

Instructions

1. To make the marinade, place the ingredients in a food processor and process until finely chopped.

2. Place the pork ribs in a large bowl and coat well with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 hours, tossing occasionally.

3. Preheat a hooded barbecue grill to medium-low and lightly grease with oil.

4. Place the ribs bone-side down on the grill, reserving the marinade for basting. Cover and cook, basting with the marinade every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Turn the ribs, baste and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for a further 30 minutes until tender.

5. Meanwhile, to make the dipping sauce, combine the fish sauce, vinegar and sugar with 80 ml (21⁄2 fl oz/1⁄3 cup) water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to just below boiling point then set aside to cool. Add the garlic, chilli and lime juice, and stir to combine.

6. Transfer the ribs to a serving platter and arrange the lettuce, mint, coriander, cucumber and chilli around them. Serve the dipping sauce in small individual bowls.

Recipe from Feed The Man Meat (Smith Street Books).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.