Nigel Barton cooks salt and chilli ribs for Foody Thursday on Simon Mayo Drivetime.

Nigel’s recipe is taken from The Incredible Spice Men cook book available from Amazon.

The ingredients for the dish are: 1 kg (2lb 4oz) pork ribs, 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon powder, 1 tbsp garlic purée (Nige says you can easily make your own from freshly pressed garlic), 300ml (½ pint) white wine, 1 tbsp chilli bean sauce (toban), ½ jar char siu sauce and corn oil, if deep frying.

For the dry spice mix: ½ tbsp white peppercorns, 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper, 4 star anise, 3 tsp salt, 1 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tbsp five-spice powder, ½ tbsp crushed black pepper, ½ tbsp caster sugar and ½ tbsp vegetable bouillon powder.

For the batter: 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic purée, ½ tsp chilli powder, 6 tbsp custard powder, 6 tsp plain flour, 2 tbsp sesame oil, if deep frying and 2 tbsp vegetable oil or rapeseed oil, if pan frying.

For the garnish: 1 tbsp rapeseed oil or vegetable oil, 8 spring onions, 3 red chillies, ½ red pepper, seeds removed and ½ yellow pepper, seeds removed.