Pomegranate molasses sweet and sour ribs

As it is Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi gras, Fat Tuesday if you prefer) we had pancakes for breakfast which was at least a nod to tradition. We went for the fat, blueberry, Canadian maple syrup kind which isn’t at all traditional but since we never eat pudding unless we have friends over then it had to be either breakfast pancakes or nothing.

For lunch we took a portion of the pea and ham soup we had made and stashed away in the freezer which just left dinner to think about. It was kinda already decided because of the big pot of beans we had cooked on Sunday (though most of those are already nestled in the deep freeze). The suggestion in the recipe to eat with bread and salad didn’t appeal – it would probably have been OK if we had followed the recipe and used belly of pork instead of lardons.

Aha! Belly of pork – as it happens this time of year is when the supermarkets have a pork fair and we had bought a whole belly and cut it into manageable portions and consigned it to the freezer. We removed the ribs first and stored them separately so decided they would be the perfect thing with the beans accompanied by a nice sweet corn we had stashed away in the summer.

In the same magazine as the bean recipe there was a recipe for sweet and sour ribs using pomegranate molasses and by good fortune we have some pomegranate molasses we had bought for a middle eastern recipe. It seems like this was all just meant to be.

We used their recipe for the sauce and then cooked the ribs in the same way we would for bbq ribs.

For the sauce – serves 4 to 6

• 10 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 8 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 8 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander

Heat the oven to 190C/ 170C fan.

Put all the ingredients for the sauce into a bowl and whisk together.

Put the ribs on to a baking sheet and cook in the preheated oven for about an hour until tender. Remove from the oven lift off the tray and pour away the fat they will have given off.

coat with the sauce

Replace the ribs on the tray and, using a pastry brush, coat the ribs generously on both sides with the sauce. Put the tray back into the oven and continue to cook for about another 20 minutes until the ribs are nicely browned and sticky. Serve at once with the beans or other accompaniment of your choice.

Paper napkins and finger bowls will definitely be needed!