Recipe: Sweet and Sour Pork

  A quick and easy taste of China, beats a takeaway any day

I love this dish, it’s so simple to make and not only tastes better than the takeaway version but it’s so much cheaper as well (and, in my experience, almost as quick). I do like my Chinese food and this is a staple in my cooking rotation and, while my preference is to do this with pork, the same recipe can be followed with chicken as well.

 

Ingredients:

600g pork fillet

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 x 227g tin of sliced pineapple

1 egg

cornflour (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)

fresh ginger (a piece about the size of your thumb)

1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

1 tablespoon of cider vinegar

groundnut oil

Serves 2-4

How to make:

Start by slicing your pork fillet into strips, cutting your peppers into chunks and peeling and grating your fresh ginger. Open the tin of pineapple slices and cut them into chunks (I do this in the tin using an old, cheap knife, alternatively do this in a bowl but make sure you keep the juice). Next beat your egg in a bowl and mix in 1 tablespoon of the cornflour.

Fill about a third of a wok with groundnut oil and place on a high heat. While that’s warming up place your pork strips into the batter and mix thoroughly, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. The oil needs to be hot enough so that when you put the pork in it browns the batter straight away, this helps seal in the flavour and minimises the amount of oil the pork soaks up, making it a little healthier.

Once you’ve got the oil hot enough carefully place the pork strips into the oil (you might want to use a slotted spoon or similar for this) and cook for 5-7 minutes until they are a nice golden brown colour. Remove the pork and place into a bowl lined with some kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil. Then carefully drain the oil from the wok through a sieve and into a heat resistant bowl (you can then use it again next time you make this or a similar dish).

Return 1 tablespoon of the hot oil back into the wok and heat until it starts to smoke. Next, put in the pepper chunks and ginger, stirring quickly to stop the ginger from burning. Fry these for 2 minutes and then add the pineapple chunks including all the juice, give it a stir and then add 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar. Once these are all in, stir and let it simmer for a further 2-3 minutes to reduce the sauce. Once the mixture is heated through and starting to reduce, mix 1 teaspoon of cornflour with approximately 1 tablespoon of water and add to the wok.

Finally, once the cornflour mixture has taken effect (most of the excess liquid will disappear), add the pork back into the pan, mix well and heat for a couple more minutes until the pork is nicely covered in the sauce. Then you’re ready to serve.

I like to have this with a simple bed of boiled or fired rice, or with some noodles, and of course chopsticks are mandatory J. Hope you enjoy.