Sweet and sour pork

Cut and paste from ex-blog again - sorry. But we just had it for dinner last night, so I thought it would be an appropriate post. An Asian classic.

This is my mum's recipe, with tweaks from Barbara Tropp and Yan-Kit So - who brought Asian cooking to America and UK respectively the way Julia Child did French cooking and Marcella Hazan did Italian cooking (I received her cookbook in the post today!). I promise you that, unlike the starchy sugar-fest goop you get at most Asian restaurants in the USA, this dish tastes fresh, healthy and clean.


RECIPE: SWEET AND SOUR PORK
(serves 5)
(cooking time: 20-30 mins)

A - Meat
400g/1 lb lean pork shoulder, sliced into little chunks
2 tbsp corn starch
1 egg
Rice flour
Potato starch

B - Sauce
8 tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp soya sauce
4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

C - VEGETABLES
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1" ginger, cut into fine threads
1 big onion, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 cucumber, seeded and chopped into small pieces
2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
1 red chilli, sliced
3 stalks scallions, sliced into 3cm strips

A. Marinate the sliced pork with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp sugar. Coat with 2 tblsp of cornflour. Add 2 tbsp of water and stir in one direction until all the water is absorbed. Beat in one egg. Knead thoroughly and rest for 15 mins or longer.

(B - Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients for the sauce)

After the meat has been marinated well, coat each slice with a combination of rice flour and potato flour in the ratio of 1:1. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a wok until smoking slightly (180 degrees celcius). Deep fry one batch until cooked and crisp, about 4 mins. Remove and drain. Repeat until all the meat has been cooked (about 3-4 batches). Add and heat more oil as needed.

C. Heat 2 tbsp of clean oil. Fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant, about 3 mins. Add in onion, cucumber, tomatoes, chilli, and scallions. Stir fry for about 2 mins. Then add sauce and bring to a boil. Adjust the taste. Thicken with cornstarch solution if needed.

Add in the fried pork and mix well. Or serve pork with sauce in a separate bowl. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.