The Ubiquitous Sweet and Sour Pork



We just can't get enough of sweet and sour pork, can we? Those crispy golden balls of light and airy puffiness surrounding that delicious little pork nugget within, covered in thick and syrupy sweet and sour sauce. I am referring to the American-style battered sweet and sour pork, which are also available at some of the chinese-takeaway shops in Australia. Not so much in the higher end chinese restaurants though. Those usually serve the unbattered version of sweet and sour pork, where the pork is dusted with cornflour and deep-fried, forming a layer of golden crust around it. I like both versions, but this time, I decided to make the battered kind, which G used to love eating back in Berkeley. Yeah, sometimes I just turn to G and ask him what his stomach desires, especially when I've got too many ideas in my head and it's easier for someone to just tell me what to cook.



If you're planning to make the battered ones, it's best to use pork fillets as they turn out wonderfully moist and tender. With the unbattered version, a pork belly cut would be more suitable as the fillet can be a little too lean and one-dimensional in texture, especially without the crisp and fluffy batter on the outside. We like ours with plenty of sauce to slather all over our rice, and as you can see from the recipe below, it does make quite a decent quantity. I have tried including pineapple juice in the sauce before, but I think I prefer using plum sauce instead which is not as "zingy" and acidic as pineapple juice. My version of the sauce has a good balance between sweet and sour, but try tasting it as you go along and adjust it to your liking. It also depends on the brand of ketchup you're using, and in my case, I used Masterfoods tomato sauce.

Here is my rather lengthy but easier-than-it-looks sweet and sour pork recipe. I hope you will get to try this at home too. Enjoy!

Saucy Battered Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients

300g pork fillet, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 onion, quartered

1/2 cup mixture of red/green peppers

1/4 cup diced pineapples

1 tomato, quartered

Marinade:

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp five-spice powder

1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp cornflour for dusting

Batter (combine in a bowl to maka a thick batter):
3 tbsp cornflour
5 tbsp self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 egg
1/4 cup cold water
2 tsp vegetable oil

Sauce (combine in a bowl):
6 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp white rice vinegar
2 tsp plum sauce (I used Ayam brand, which is quite tangy)
1 tbsp oyter sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/8 tsp pepper
3 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
1/4 cup water

Thickening:
2 tsp tapioca starch + 2 tbsp water

A drop of red colouring (optional)

Method

Combine pork with marinade and set aside for 30 minutes. Have your sauce ready in a bowl for cooking later.
Dust the pork with cornflour. Heat up sufficent oil in a wok for deep-frying. Coat pork in the batter and deep-fry until light golden brown on medium-high heat. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. When the pork has cooled down slightly, heat up the oil on high heat and fry the pork again until browned, about 1-2 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

In a clean wok, heat up 1 1/2 tbsp oil and fry garlic, onion, peppers for 30 seconds. Then add pineapples and tomatoes, and the sauce ingredients. Simmer for a minute. Add colouring if used, and then add the starch solution. Bring to a boil until it thickens. Turn off heat and add the pork. Toss to coat in the sauce. Transfer to a serving plate and serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.