Sweet chilli and ginger pork marinade
Sweet chilli sauce, fresh ginger, garlic, soy and lime in a sticky marinade for pork loin chops, neck chops or spare ribs on the braai.
- CoalsGas
- No fire needed
- Prep
- 10 min
- On the fire
- 0 min
- Plan ahead
- 2 to 12 hours marinating
- Serves
- makes about 250 ml (1 cup), enough for 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) pork chops or ribs
- Done at
- 145°F (63°C)
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk the sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, oil, vinegar, lime juice, ginger, garlic and chilli flakes together in a jug.
- Pour 4 tablespoons into a clean jar and keep it in the fridge. This is your glaze.
- Put the pork in a glass dish or zip-seal bag and add the rest of the marinade. Turn the meat so every side is coated, then cover the dish or seal the bag with the air pressed out.
- Refrigerate and turn the pork once or twice. Give loin chops 2 to 4 hours, neck chops 4 to 8 hours and spare ribs 8 to 12 hours.
- Take the pork out 30 minutes before cooking. Lift it from the marinade, wipe off the ginger and garlic, and pat it dry with paper towel. The sugar in sweet chilli sauce burns quickly on a wet surface.
- Cook chops over medium coals, where you can hold your hand at grid height for 5 to 6 seconds. Loin chops 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick take 5 to 7 minutes a side, and neck chops 6 to 8 minutes a side.
- Cook raw spare ribs over indirect heat with the lid on, coals to one side, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, turning every 20 minutes. Ribs you have already braised need only 15 to 20 minutes over medium coals.
- Move the pork to the cooler side if the edges blacken. Brush on the clean glaze from the jar in the last 5 minutes. To use the marinade the raw pork sat in, boil it for 2 to 3 minutes first.
- Rest the pork for 3 to 5 minutes, then serve with coriander and lime wedges.
Done when: the pork is sticky and lightly charred at the edges, and a thermometer in the thickest part of a chop reads 63°C (145°F), followed by a 3 minute rest. Ribs are safe at 63°C (145°F) but are only tender once the meat reaches 88 to 93°C (190 to 200°F) and pulls back from the bones.
Tips
- It suits other meat too. Chicken thighs or wings: 2 to 6 hours, 25 to 35 minutes on medium coals, to 74°C (165°F). Pork belly strips: 4 to 8 hours, 15 to 20 minutes on medium coals, turning often. Prawns: 20 minutes, 2 to 3 minutes a side on hot coals.
- Sweet chilli sauce brands vary a lot in sugar and heat. Taste the marinade and add more lime if it is too sweet, or chilli flakes if it is too mild.
- No fresh ginger? Use 1 teaspoon ground ginger, but fresh gives a sharper bite that cuts through fatty pork.
Sweet chilli sauce came to South Africa from Thai and wider Southeast Asian cooking and is now in almost every fridge, mostly as a dip. Thinned with lime, soy and plenty of fresh ginger, it makes a marinade that clings to pork and caramelises over the coals. Fatty cuts handle the sugar best. Use it on pork neck chops in place of honey and mustard, or as the glaze for sticky pork spare ribs.
Source
Adapted from Grilled Sweet Chili Pork Chops at Real Life Dinner and Sweet Chili Sauce Pork Chops at Just Jenn Recipes.