Easy Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe 简单古老肉做法

I was a bit hesitant to do this recipe. This is such a common dish. Any Tom, Dick and Harry knows what sweet and sour pork or ku lou yuk is all about. But this dish is a phenomenon. It is so well received it has become an identity to all Chinese restaurants, a must have. With such popularity, how could I refuse?

The recipes available are somewhat different in different parts of the world. Pineapple juice is widely used in the West instead of plum sauce. My guess is that plum sauce is not an easily available item there. And maybe expensive too! Either way, I am not going into which recipe is better. I am just providing you this easy sweet and sour pork recipe as an alternative. And mind you, this alternative rocks!

There are two parts to making this easy sweet and sour pork recipe: 1. the sweet and sour sauce; 2. and the pork that is cooked to perfection. I am not going into length about the sauce as you can read about it here. As for the pork, a crispy and freshly fried pork makes a whole lot of difference. This is where you could do better than some of the restaurants that pre-fries their pork, making it less juicy and tender when it reaches your table. Normally, pork tenderloin is used but if you are not opposed to eating a bit of fats, use pork belly. Thinking about about that mere crispy-fried juicy belly already makes me drool. But when mix with the most tasty sauce, it becomes just phenomenal!

Easy Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe 简单古老肉做法

Ingredients

1/2 green pepper, cut into chunks
1 small red chilli (optional), cut into small pieces
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 slice of pineapple, cut into chunks
3/4 - 1 cup of sweet and sour sauce, depending on how much sauce you want
1 tsp tapioca starch mix with 1 tsp water

Pork and Marinade

500 g pork tenderloin/pork belly, cut into 1.5cm cube
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 few drops of sesame oil
1/2 beaten egg
tapioca/corn starch for coating
pepper to taste

Cooking Instruction

1. Mix everything in "pork and marinade", except for tapioca/corn starch, and marinade for 30 minutes.

2. Coat meat with starch and shake off excess using a colander of strainer. Heat oil to a high temperature. Use a drop of the batter coating the meat to test the oil. If the batter sizzles and rises up immediately after dropping into the oil that means the oil is ready. Reduce fire to low and quickly add in all the meat, stirring to avoid the meat from sticking together. Gradually increase the heat to medium. Fry until the meat is just cooked. Heat up oil to high again when about to remove the meat. Remove, drain and set aside.

3. In a fresh wok/pan, heat up the sweet and sour sauce and the rest of the vegetables. When it is bubbling, add in fried meat and coat thoroughly with sweet and sour sauce. Stir in tapioca starch mixture to thicken sauce. Remove and plate.

Note:
Normally, Chinese restaurants would blanch the vegetables in oil first before adding into the dish. You might want to do the same but I just find it unnecessary for home cooking.

For Sweet and Sour Sauce Recipe, click here.