China · Cantonese
Sweet and Sour Pork
Twice-fried pork in a glossy sweet and sour sauce with pineapple and green pepper, the fruit keeping the glaze from cloying.
Sweet and sour pork belongs to the Cantonese home kitchen and travelled widely through the diaspora. The sauce is built from tomato, vinegar and pineapple, and the fruit is not decoration; its acidity is what stops the fried pork from cloying. Frying twice gives the crust time to set, which is why the pieces stay crisp under the glaze.
Ingredients
- pork shoulder100 g
- green pepper25 g
- canned pineapple slices75 g
- salt4 tsp
- tomato puree4 tsp
- white vinegar2 tsp
- minced garlic1 tsp
- light soy sauce2 tsp
- cornstarch2 tsp
- white sugar2 tsp
- water200 ml
Directions
- 1
Rinse one hundred grams of pork shoulder, pat dry with kitchen paper, and cut it into pieces a little smaller than you want the finished dish to be.
- 2
Season with half a teaspoon of salt and leave for twenty minutes.
- 3
Chop twenty-five grams of green pepper.
- 4
Cut seventy-five grams of pineapple into pieces.
- 5
In a bowl, mix tomato puree, white vinegar, minced garlic, light soy sauce, cornstarch, white sugar, salt and water into a sauce.
- 6
Dust the pork with cornstarch.
- 7
Heat five hundred milliliters of oil over medium heat.
- 8
Add the pork and fry for five minutes over medium heat, then lift out.
- 9
Return the pork and flash-fry for one minute over high heat.
- 10
Add a teaspoon of oil and the sauce and heat for three minutes over medium heat.
- 11
Add the green pepper and pineapple and heat for two minutes over high heat.
- 12
Toss the fried pork through the sauce and serve.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.