Sweet and Sour Pork
Whole Kitchen, in their Savory Proposal for January, invites us to make a Chinese classic: sweet and sour pork.
**For us, this is THE go-to dish whenever we have Chinese food, so it couldn’t be missing from our blog. To be honest, I don’t even know exactly where I got the recipe from, because I ended up mashing together a bunch of different websites and now I can’t recall the exact source. But hey, like with any dish, the trick is to give it a go, and if there’s something you don’t love, tweak it to your taste — that’s what your own kitchen is for.
What do we need?
400 g (14 oz) lean pork
1 large onion
1 red bell pepper
1 carrot
4 pineapple slices
Oil
Salt
For the batter:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
Water
For the sweet and sour sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
How do we make it?
First, we make the sweet and sour sauce. Put all the ingredients except the cornstarch into a medium saucepan and cook over high heat so that everything mixes and dissolves well.
Let it come to a boil and then simmer over medium heat for a few minutes so the sauce reduces and thickens. Dissolve the cornstarch in a cup with a little water and add it to the sauce. Once it has the consistency you want, take it off the heat.
Cut the onion and bell pepper into medium-sized squares (about 1.5 cm / 1/2 inch).
Slice the carrot thinly on the diagonal.
Cut the pineapple into chunks.
In a pan with a little oil, stir-fry all the veggies (add the pineapple last). Don’t overcook them — we want them to stay crunchy.
Once they’re ready, take them out and add them to the saucepan with the sweet and sour sauce.
Cut the pork into bite-sized cubes (similar in size to the veggies) and season with salt.
In a bowl, mix the two flours and the baking powder, then add the egg and very cold water. The amount of water varies, so it’s better to add it little by little until you get the texture of a light béchamel.
While the oil heats up in a frying pan, drop the pieces of pork into the bowl with the batter.
Once the oil is good and hot, fry the coated pieces one by one. When they’re golden, take them out onto a plate lined with paper towels.
Finally, add the fried pork to the saucepan with the sweet and sour sauce and veggies. If the sauce has cooled down by now, warm it back up before adding the meat.
Serve with white rice, basmati rice, or three delights fried rice.
Tips:
When making the sweet and sour sauce, I’d recommend not pouring in all the vinegar at once, as it can come out really strong. Better to add it bit by bit, to taste.
If the pineapple you used is canned (in its own juice), you can add that juice to the sweet and sour sauce.
The battered meat goes in right at the end so the coating stays crispy. That’s why I recommend serving and eating it right away.