Recipe: Slow Cooker Chinese Ribs

I decided to blog this recipe when I mentioned it on Twitter and immediately got a request from The Coffee Lady for the recipe. It's not your average slow cooker recipe - it doesn't need as much cooking but it is a "bung it all in and leave" type thing, with some grilling at the end. I have two variations in the recipe book I got this from - the other is maple glazed ribs, but this is much nicer. The original recipe suggest eating it with some coleslaw but rice is nice with it too. In the pic below, I cooked some rice with a bit of stock and some coconut cream, and stirred in some soy sauce and petits pois near the end of cooking. The cooking time is listed as 5 to 7 hours but I would imagine it could be cooked in less time than that as the meat is falling off the bones and the bones disintegrating.

Chinese Ribs
Serves 4

1.25kg/2.5lb pork ribs
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, thickly sliced
2 bay leaves (entirely optional)
2 tbsp malt vinegar
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1 litre/1.75 pints boiling water

For the glaze:
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
juice of 1 orange (tho I often use about 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice)

Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 5-7 hours or until tender. Mix the ingredients for the glaze with about 100 ml of stock from the slow cooker pot. Drain the ribs, transfer to a a grill pan lined with foil (preferably on a rack) and preheat the grill to high. Cover the ribs with the glaze  - I use a silicon pastry brush for this but you could spoon some over each rib. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning once or twice. I often take them out every 5 minutes and brush more glaze on as they cook, continuing until all the glaze is used. They're done once they are browned and sticky all over.