Sweet and Sour Pork

If you go to your average Chinese takeaway in Australia and order sweet and sour pork, you will be served battered pieces of pork coated in an atomic red sauce.  It's a bit like the British version of chicken tikka masala.  However, in the June 2016 edition of Gourmet Traveller, there is a beautiful Cantonese recipe for sweet and sour pork that is nothing like the Chinese takeaway version.  I couldn't wait to make it.

I was so glad that I did - it was rich, spicy and flavourful, and no atomic red sauce in sight.  I served this gorgeous dish with brown rice to ensure that all of that wonderful sauce was soaked up.

To make this Cantonese sweet and sour pork by Tony Tan, you will need:

250g fresh pineapple
1 small onion
1 firm tomato
1/2 red capsicum
1/2 green capsicum
1 spring onion
2-3 long red chillies, deseeded
2 cloves garlic
oil for deep frying
75g potato flour + 1 tspn extra
65g rice flour
steamed rice to serve

Pork

1 teaspoon five spice powder
2 tspns light soy sauce
2 tspns Shaoxing wine
1 tspn ginger juice (squeezed from 2 tbspns finely grated ginger)
1 beaten egg
500g pork neck

Sweet and sour sauce

185ml chicken stock
125 ml tomato sauce
1 tbspn sugar
1 tbspn rice vinegar
2 tspns light soy sauce
1/2 tspn dark soy sauce
1/2 tspn sesame oil

For the pork:

Mix all of the ingredients other than the pork together in a bowl. 

Cut the  pork into 3cm pieces, toss in the marinade in the bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate for at least 15 minutes.

For the sauce:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

For the rest:

Cut the pineapple into bite sized pieces, cut the onion and tomato into wedges, thinly slice the capsicums and chillies, cut the spring onion into batons, finely chop the garlic;  set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok.  Combine the flours in a bowl, add the marinated pork and toss to coat, then deep fry the pork in batches until browned and crisp.  Drain the pork on paper towels.

Wipe the wok clean and add 1 tbspn frying oil.  Once heated, add the garlic, chillies and onion, and stir fry until the onion starts to colour.  Add the capsicum and pineapple and stir fry for 20 seconds.

Add the sweet and sour sauce, bring to the boil, then add the spring onion and tomato, and stir fry until warmed through.

Combine the extra tspn of potato flour with 1 tbspn cold water and stir into the sauce to thicken.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Return the pork to the wok and warm through.  Serve over rice.