Nostalgic Sweet & Sour Pork

Our parents had takeaways when we were growing up. Sweet and Sour Pork was definitely one of those dishes that was made everyday.

There is a bit of prep, but the joy of making food from scratch definitely has its rewards when it’s all finished. Pork can be substituted for other proteins if you’d like such as fish or chicken – or even tofu!

But this recipe is a classic – tomato sauce, vinegar sugar and pineapple make up the base of the flavours.

If you think about it, this recipe has 4 steps:

Preparation and marination

Making the sauce

Frying the pork

Combining your veges pork and sauce

Ingredients

PORK BRINE

500 g Pork tenderloin or Pork shoulder sliced in 1 inch cubes

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp light soy sauce

SAUCE

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Juice of tinned pineapple

1/4 cup water

1/2 squeeze lemon

COATING

1 cup wheat starch or corn starch

1 cup plain flour

sprinkle white pepper

sprinkle salt

1 egg

VEGETABLES

1/2 large onion cut into 1-2inch chunks

1 Capsicum cut in chunks

1 carrot sliced diagnoally

1 tin pineapple, sliced

Instructions

1. Add brine ingredients together and let it marinade together for at least 30 minutes (better if you can for a few hours)

2. Make the sauce. Add some oil to a frypan then add your tomato sauce. Stir for a minute then add your vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, lemon and pineapple juice and stir. Let it simmer and turn heat down for 30 minutes. It will thicken over time.

3. Prep the pork. In a bowl, mix flours and seasoning together. Use another bowl for your egg. Take your pork pieces to start the double coat process- coat in flour, then coat in your egg, then coat back in the flour until all is coated.

4. Frying the pork. In a pot/wok, fill until there is enough oil to fry pork pieces. Fry pork for a few minutes until golden. Set aside to drain on a paper towel. If you want crispy pork, fry it twice.

5. Putting it all together. In a clean wok, place some oil and stir fry your vegetables and pineapple until browned. Add your sauce and stir, then add the pork and combine. Now it’s time to serve on rice with a side of vegetables!