The faded and yellowing monitor’s exercise book is falling apart now.  The scrawl on the inside cover tells me I started scribbling in it in from the 28 July 1977,  when we lived in 2 Solok, Glugor, in Penang. Ah! what an exotic stay that was. Our taste buds went on far eastern exotic journey tasting, Chinese, Malay, Nonya and Indian food.  The abundance of food was sometimes overwhelming, specially as we went to Penang from the austerity period of Srimavo’s in the 1970s.

Market stalls opened early, and I would drop the kids to school and wander around buying some my favourites scrumptious Char Siew -Roast pork, rambutans and the delicious cinnamon scroll buns, I so loved for tea in the afternoon.  The shopkeepers did their calculations on Chinese Abacuses.

This was also where we encountered the “Kati” a Malay unit of weighing that is about 1¹⁄3 lb –approx 600 gms.   So, that’s why this recipe starts saying:

Season 1 kati spare ribs with  7 or 8 cloves of pounded garlic, black peper, light thin soya sauce and a few drops of sesame oil and leave to marinade for 30 minutes or longer.

While it marinades you could get your rice going and think of what veg you might like to have with it.  A sharp tasting stir-fry of pineapple on a crispy bed of lettuce really goes well with this and makes a great compliment to this dish. I did have it the other day, but forgot to photograph it!

The fact that this particular page in the book has oil marks, shows how often I’ve thumbed back to look at the the method and the sauce ingredients and make sure I got this right.

The other ingredients are:

2 Tablespoons of oil —  I use Sesame oil or a mixture of Olive oil and Sesame oil (and this is the Chinese variety and not the Sri Lankan “Thala thel”)

Sauce Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of light soya sauce
2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Tablespoons Tomato Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Chillie Sauce
1 teaspoon Chillie flakes
2-3 teaspoons sugar -preferably brown if not use white
a tablespoon or two of water

I usually cook this in a non-stick wok but if you don’t have one use a large saucepan.

Heat the oil and stir fry the spare ribs till colour changes, add marinade and a little water and lower the flame.  Cook covered for about 30 minutes. Check water doesn’t dry out.

Mix sauce ingredients pour over the ribs and cook slowly till the sauce coats the ribs and has a rich deep colour. Check seasoning.

Note: I don’t add extra salt in this recipe as there is enough in the sauces but if you like more salt or more chillie or would like to reduce the sugar — experiment and see what you get.