home meal

Serve as a main course with steamed rice for 4

Sweet and sour pork is a popular Cantonese cuisine. The recipe juxtapose the intense flavor of the pork  with the light tangy vinegar sauce. There are few different version of this dish. Some people use pineapple in the sauce and add some starch to thickens the texture. Feel free to experiment.  The secret to a great sweet and sour pork however, is to marinate the pork with the egg yolks and corn flour overnight!

Ingredients

• 300g pork boneless
• 1 1/2 tbs corn flour
• 1 tbs cold water
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 3 ts light soy sauce
• 2 ts sesame oil
• 1 ts salt
• 1/4 cup plain flour for deep frying
• 1/4 cup corn flour for deep frying

Sweet and Sour Sauce

• 1 carrot, peeled
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tomato
• 1/4 cup malt vinegar, season to taste
• 5 tbs shao hsing wine or dry sherry
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 ts salt
• 4 garlic
• 2 tbs ginger
• 2 tbs light soy sauce

Steps

1. Blend corn flour with water in a medium sized bowl.
2. Add pork, egg yolks, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt, and mix well. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
3. To make the sweet and sour sauce: Using a vegetable peeler, finely slice carrot lengthways into ribbons. Cut cucumber in half lengthways, slice on the diagonal. Cut tomato into small pieces and set aside together with the cucumber and carrot.
4. Chop the garlic  and ginger into small pieces.
5. Place vinegar, wine or sherry, sugar, and extra salt in a saucepan and stir over high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil.
6. Add garlic and ginger, reduce heat and simmer, for 10 minutes.
7. Add reserved carrot, cucumber, tomato and simmer for another 3 minutes or until tomato has broken down slightly.
8. Stir in soy sauce, remove from stove and set aside.
9. Combine plain flour and corn flour for deep frying.
10. Add to the marinated pork and mix well.
11. Heat oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Deep fry pork until lightly browned, crispy and cooked through.
12. Arrange pork on a platter and serve immediately with sweet and sour sauce.