Tamarind ribs
For this dish at Immigrant Food in downtown Washington, D.C., executive chef and culinary director Ben Murray submerges riblets in a liquid of orange juice, soy sauce, water, garlic, onion and charred scallion, and braises them until they’re tender, then he removes the ribs and cools them.
He makes a sauce by simmering ketchup, apple cider vinegar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, chile garlic sauce, water, and tamarind concentrate, and reducing it to a sauce.
Then he tosses the ribs in cornstarch and deep-fries them before tossing them in the barbecue sauce and plating them with chopped scallion and black and white sesame seeds.
Murray says the sweet-and-sour nature of the tamarind makes for a great barbecue sauce because of its deep and rich flavors.
Price: $18