I have a love and hate relationship with Marmite which is synonymous to their slogan "Love it or Hate it"!
My mum used to make me eat it with my porridge when I was kid. Apparently, it is supposed to be full of nutrients and flavour, my mum used it as a method to quickly add flavour into the plain porridge but it just tasted god damn awful to me!
Shortly after my mum took a twist to tempt me into eating Marmite. God knows why, maybe just looking for ways to finish the bottle of marmite I guess. She would spread it on a toast and top it with some honey. That's when I started looking at Marmite in a whole different light. The combination of sweet and salty somehow works wonder! Needless to say, I gladly eat my Marmite willingly as long as there is honey in it Hahaha! Which leads me to this recipe!
This dish I am writing about today is quite unique, it's quite commonly found in our Zi Char (Cook to order) stalls or restaurants in Singapore & Malaysia. This is definitely an improvised adult version of my Marmite honey toast and I hope you will like this dish as much as I do.
Serves 4
Ingredients
750g Prime Pork Ribs/Baby Backs
1/4 Cup Corn Flour
Marinade
1.5 Tbsp Corn Flour
1 Tbsp Shaoxing Wine
1/2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp White Pepper Powder
1 Egg White
Sauce
1 Tbsp Marmite
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Maltose
1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1/2 tsp Chicken Powder
100ml Hot Water
A dash White Pepper Powder
Garnish
1 tsp ToastedSesame Seeds
1 Red Chilli, Thin Strips
1 Spring Onion, Thin Strips
Method
1. Marinate the pork ribs with the ingredients for the marinade for minimum 1 hour.
2. In a bowl, mix in all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
3. Just before frying, use a pair of thongs to pick the pork ribs out and get rid of excess marinade. Coat evenly with corn flour and set aside.
4. Heat up a wok with 1 cup of oil over medium heat and when the oil is hot enough, deep fry the pork ribs till cooked and golden brown. Depending on the size of the ribs, it will between 5-8 minutes. Mine took about 7-8 minutes as they are about 3.5" long. Scoop out the pork ribs onto some kitchen papers/racks to get rid of the excess oil and set aside.
5. Drain the wok of oil, leaving just 1 Tbsp of oil in it.
6. Pour in the sauce mixture, let it come to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer till the sauce has thickened, about 1-2 minutes.
7. Add the pork ribs back into the wok and stir to coat the pork ribs well with the bubbling sauce. Once you see that the pork ribs are well coated and the sauce has turned sticky and reduced by almost half, turn off the heat and plate up.
8. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, red chilli and spring onion strips.
9. Serve immediately with rice.