So I understand it’s that time of the year again!  Valentine’s Day – just kidding, until it’s here on Monday!  It’s Superbowl time and for me, that means great  snacking food!  Oh I know there are a couple of great teams playing and of course the half-time show is always a big draw, not to mention those commercials we don’t get to see (except on social media platforms).  So if you are going to follow the game or just enjoy the food while others are watching the game, this is a must make recipe; best part is you have plenty of time to buy the ingredients.  This recipe incorporates that tangy/sweet/spicy combination of tastes your mouth craves.  You can control the heat in this recipe so if you want warm spicy – just use a milder pepper. I would like to encourage you to give this a try with the scotch bonnet or habanero pepper at least once. These are great on their own for watching a game or as a meal served with some rice and steamed vegetable – just lightly salted bok choy, broccoli or snap peas, for dinner. 

I think the only thing some of you might not have in your house is tamarind. But it’s easy enough to find, almost every grocery store or Asian store sells it in either paste form or in raw form in an oblong shaped plastic wrapped block. Either kind will work when you need tamarind in a recipe. My mum used to always buy the block, break off what she needed, wrap the rest up and keep it in the fridge. She would soak the piece in hot water and when cool enough to handle, she would rub the piece of tamarind between her fingers to squeeze out all the flesh, seeds and hard bits. The flesh remains behind in the water, the seeds and hard bits discarded. If you can find it in the “tamarind concentrate” form, that’s okay too, just use less (“concentrated” ahem).

The tamarind will be offset by the brown sugar – and this is a match made in heaven. So even though I’m quantifying how much tamarind to use in the recipe, start with less and keep adding until your tongue starts dancing with delight. Remember the secret to a great marinade is no secret at all – make it tasty (regardless of what the recipe says!). The other thing that will get your tongue dancing is the habanero pepper. Don’t chop it up, just poke a few holes in it and throw it into the simmering pot of glaze. Alternates are listed below as always.

I cooked all of this in my oven but it would be incredible on the bbq, but then the Superbowl is in played in winter. This will elevate or complement your usual Superbowl fare. Get vaccinated, wear a good mask, wash your hands, socialize responsibly as per your regional guidelines and above all, be safe. As always – enjoy (the game too)!

Ingredients
2 racks pork baby back or spare ribs or riblets – about 4 lbs total – give or take, more is always nicer
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsps garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cayenne
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ cup store-bought tamarind concentrate or purée
1 scotch bonnet chile, stemmed and sliced in half
2” knob of ginger, peeled and roughly cut into slices
Juice of ½ lemon
1 scallion, finely sliced

Directions
Heat the oven to 300f – keep a rimmed baking close by
Spread the ribs on a cutting board, make sure they are dry and remove the silver skin on the back – it’s easier if you separate a bit of skin from one end piece of rib, grab it with a paper towel and pull it across to the other end of the ribs
Transfer the ribs to a large piece of foil – set aside (or 2 pieces of foil if you don’t have a large/wide size)
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 the brown sugar with the garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, pepper and 1 tbsp. salt – mix well using the tips of your fingers to rub the mix together
Rub the spice mix into the ribs using your hands – really get it all over, both sides, top, bottom, ends
Wrap in foil and place in the oven for 2 hours – set a timer for 1 hour because you can start making the glaze at that time
At the one hour mark, make the sauce for the ribs by adding the tamarind paste and 1 1/2 cups of water to a small pot over a medium flame, along with the brown sugar, ginger and habanero chili – whisk/stir until the tamarind is dissolved you should have almost 2 cups of pre-cooked glaze at this stage
You need to boil this down for about 5-7 minutes or to desired thickness (nope, not like ready made sauce please), just thicken it to your liking
At 1 ½ hour mark, remove the ribs from the oven, uncover the foil and brush the ribs with the sauce, seal the foil and continue for the last 30 minutes of baking – they will be fork tender at the end this time
This is optional (I did it this time around), but if you want some charring on the ribs, uncover them in the last 10 minutes of cooking, raise the temperature to broil setting of 425f, brush additional sauce onto the ribs and broil – watching it very closely, for 10 – 15 minutes until the ribs take on some color
Once this is done, let the meat rest in the foil for about 10 minutes, then remove to a cutting board and cut into 2-3 rib portions or individual ribs
If there are juices at the bottom of the foil, carefully add them to the pot of sauce, and boil again just to bring everything together
Serve the additional sauce with the ribs (and lots of napkins)

Well Why Not! (tips and suggestions)
For extra heat, like suicide wings, chop two habanero/scotch bonnet peppers and then add them to the sauce, seeds and all
Taste everything before spreading it on the wings – you don’t want insane heat, it’s all about balance – sweet, tangy and of course heat
This marinade will also work great for wings, chicken fingers etc – just cook as you normally would and finish off with the glaze