NAGALAND HOUSE BABY PORK RIBS
I finally got around to these ribs, and they are dynamite!
I skipped the separate cooking of ribs and bbq sauce, and instead pressure cooked the ribs with both sets of ingredients, then removed the meat and strained and reduced the sauce. I also broiled instead of deep frying the ribs, coating them with the sauce. (
It’s a real disservice to focus purely on the heat of bhut jolokia / naga chillies, because they are so incredibly flavorful – fruity and delicious, with a light tingling. I used only 1 small dried naga chilli for about 1.25-1.5 lbs of ribs, which was plenty of heat and flavor, so the 2-3 the recipe calls for would for me blur the flavor in favor of a burning heat.
The scant accompanying seasonings work really well with the fruitiness of the chilli – orange, star anise, ginger, apple juice, apple cider vinegar. I didn’t have apple juice at hand so I skipped it and used sugar and molasses for the sweetness. The orange comes through very nicely – I used fresh orange zest.
I don’t like kachumbar (basic Indian “salad” accompaniment of finely diced cucumber, tomato, and onion) so I went with Viet cabbage slaw and quick-pickled beets.
This would work well as a braise with pork shoulder / butt or country ribs too, and if using ribs again, I might leave them saucy another time and skip the frying / broiling at the end.
