Sweet & sour pork

Now here is the masterpiece of the plan…well, sort of! What I mean, is that the purpose of the last 2 posts was to bring you to this one. Clever uh?

Anyway, I love sweet and sour anything! You will find a lot of sweet and sour sauce versions out there. But I found a great one that I think should be shared with all of you. It’s not too sweet and certainly not too sour. It’s just right!
I am using pork in this recipe but you could substitute it for some chicken, fish or shrimps.

You will need, for 4 people:

8oz (250g) of pork tenderloin
oil for deep-frying
2 tablespoons oil for stir-frying
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 small red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into bite size pieces
1/2 small green bell pepper, deseeded and cut into bite size pieces
1/2 small onion, quartered
1-2 slices (depending on your taste) canned pineapple ring, cut into pieces
2 green onions, white parts only cut into 2 inches lengths
1/2 cup sweet-and-sour sauce (see below)

For the sauce, you will need:

2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon plum sauce
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch

This will make the exact amount you need for the recipe. This will just coat the meat and vegetables so if you want more sauce, make some extra.

You will need to mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. If you were to just use it as a dipping sauce, you will have to heat up a saucepan over medium heat and then add the sauce and thicken it. As this is not what we plan to do here, we can just put it aside for now.

Now on to the pork….You will need to deep fry it before we move on to the stir-fry part. So you will need some oil for that as mentioned in the ingredients list.

First, cut the pork into bite-size pieces

Marinade for 15 minutes:

1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or Sherry (I have the latter)

In the meantime, heat up the 2-3 inches of the oil to 350°F over a medium heat. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can do the bread test. Cut a piece of bread (ideally 2-3 days old) and you will be at the right temperature if it takes 20 seconds for it to turn to a golden brown color.

Let’s move on to the batter.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg white
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients until well combined, add the marinated pork and stir to evenly coat the pieces.

Once the oil is hot, add the pork and separate the pieces immediately with a spoon so they don’t clump together. Deep fry them to a light golden brown or until the batter becomes crispy. Take them out and drain the excess oil on paper towels.

Heat up your wok (or a skillet if you don’t own one), add the 2 tablespoon of oil for the stir fry. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds), then add the peppers, the onion, the pineapple and the green onions. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes and add the sweet-and-sour sauce. Once it starts to thicken you can add the fried pork, stirring until all the ingredients are well coated.

Serve immediately. I served it with some brown rice.
Delicious!