My twin sister Helen, younger sister Janet, younger brother Jimmy and I grew up in the family food business and lived above the shop. Like our parents and their parents – it was a way of life and we simply didn’t know any different. All I knew was that we lived over the shop, ate from the shop and worked in the shop. There was nothing else. Days of the week were marked by what was cooking in the pot. As a child I always remember Tuesday was soup day. My mum used to make a big silver saucepan (industrial sized) filled with over 50 spare ribs as the ultimate stock pot. I remember enjoying a bowl of this soup which was rich with flavour and the spare rib meat was melt in the mouth tender. My mum used the slow cook technique – it took two hours on slow cook to break down the protein and calcium in the bones. I’ve tailored the recipe to serve two.
Serves 2
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 2 hours
3.5 litres water
400g pork spare ribs
2 whole carrots, peeled
2 whole radishes
5cm piece of fresh ginger, slightly smashed
2 teaspoons salt
50g fresh coriander, chopped
Prior to making the soup, blanch the ribs to reduce the scum formed in the soup. Fill a saucepan with 1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Add the ribs and blanch for 10 minutes. Drain and put ribs into second large saucepan.
Add the carrots, radishes and ginger. Fill with the remaining water and bring to the boil. Hard boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and a simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Then add the salt and chopped coriander and serve. The ribs will be falling off the bone and deliciously sweet.
To book a table at Sweet Mandarin email sweetmandarintables@gmail.com . Our opening times are Tuesday – Sunday 5-10pm.
Sweet Mandarin is a Chinese Restaurant in Manchester which serves delicious Chinese cuisine and exotic cocktails. We make our own sweet chilli sauce, bbq sauce, sweet & sour sauce which you can buy from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Booths, Wing Yip and Chi Yip. Sweet Mandarin Chinese Restaurant and Cookery Schoolcan cater for the gluten free, dairy free diners. We are a short 15 minute walk from the Manchester Arena. We are not based in Chinatown, but based in the trendy Northern Quarter near the Arndale Centre, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Debenhams and Primark. The nearest hotels to us are the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Express, Premier Apartments, Blue Rainbow Aparthotels, Light Hotel and Hatters Hostel.