You can't beat barbecued ribs, especially when they're slathered with sticky homemade banana ketchup.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Timing: 4 hours
- 1 kg baby back ribs
- 2 tbsps American mustard
For the dry rub:
- 100 grams brown sugar
- 2 tbsps sea salt
- 2 tbsps garlic powder
For the spritz:
- 100 ml apple juice
- 100 ml apple cider vinegar
For the banana ketchup:
- 2 bananas
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/3 tsp cayenne powder
- 50 ml white wine vinegar
- 100 ml water
- 2 tbsp neutral oil (eg sunflower or vegetable)
For the slaw:
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp of runny honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ white cabbage, grated
- 4 spring onions, finely sliced
- 2 carrots grated
- 2 apples, grated
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
For the pork ribs:
- Remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs by pulling it off with a piece of kitchen paper.
- Mix all the ingredients for the dry rub together and set aside.
- Brush the meat with the American mustard and then cover completely with the dry rub.
- Place the ribs onto a tray and place into the fridge for two hours.
For the banana ketchup:
- Peel the bananas and rub with a little neutral oil. Place over indirect heat and cook for 30 minutes with the lid on until caramelised and soft.
- Meanwhile, place 1 tbsp oil into a pot set over a medium heat and add the finely chopped onion and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent and soft, but not coloured, then stir in the ginger and cook for a further five minutes.
- Remove the banana from the BBQ and roughly mash then add to the onions, along with the brown sugar, tomato puree and cayenne pepper. Cook out for a few minutes then add the white wine vinegar and water and allow to reduce by half.
- Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes then season with salt and black pepper and blend until smooth with a hand blender.
To cook the ribs:
- Place a half water bath under the grill - to do this, fill a foil tray about half full with water and place on one side of your charcoal BBQ.
- Light your fire on the other side of the BBQ.
- Place the ribs (bone side down) over the water bath and leave for about an hour.
- After an hour, start to spritz with the apple spritz every 15 minutes
- Continue cooking, spritzing regularly, for a further hour then begin to brush the ribs with the banana ketchup every 15 minutes for the final hour of cooking.
For the slaw:
- Mix the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, oil and lemon juice in a large bowl until well combined.
- Add the cabbage, spring onion, carrot and apple and stir to mix into the dressing. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside until needed.
