Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork

Crispy on the outside & juicy on the inside! This Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork 脆皮咕嚕肉 recipe is comparable to any Chinese restaurant!

PREPARATION TIME

PREP TIME 45

COOK TIME 30

TOTAL TIME 1 15

INGREDIENTS

454 g Pork butt/shoulder/belly , cut into 2.5cm cubes

2 cloves Garlic , chopped

½ Onion , cut in wedges

½ Green Pepper , cut in triangular wedges

½ Red Pepper , cut in triangular wedges. You can use any combination of peppers, approx. 100g in total

1 Thai chili (optional), chopped or with vertical cut to let out flavor if you want to make it spicy

200 g Pineapples (approx. 3 rings if canned), or lychees

½ c All-purpose flour

½ c Corn starch

500 ml Oil for frying. Amount of oil will depend on the size of your pot

Ingredients for sauce

2 tbsp Chinese red vinegar you can also use rice, apple cider or white vinegars

1 tbsp Sugar

2 tbsp Ketchup (or use 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp water)

1 tbsp Plum sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, or orange marmalade I once used a packet of McDonald’s Sweet n Sour sauce for their chicken nuggets and it worked too

¼ tsp Salt

1 tsp Corn starch

3 tbsp Water

2 tbsp Oil

Ingredients for pork marinade

1 tsp Shaoxing wine

¼ tsp Salt

1 tsp Light soy sauce

1 tsp Sugar

1 Large egg

INSTRUCTIONS

Add the ingredients of the pork marinade to the pork and mix well and set aside

Make sauce by combining 2 tbsp Chinese spiced vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp plum sauce, and ¼ tsp salt in a container and set aside This sauce will not give you the bright red color that you find at most restaurants. Using tomato paste instead of ketchup with make the sauce more red

Make slurry for sauce by combining 1 tsp corn starch with 3 tbsp water in a container and set aside

Combine ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of corn starch and mix together in a bowl. Use 2 tbsp of this mixture and add it to the marinated pork and mix well

Take a piece of pork and roll it around the flour mixture until it’s completely covered, use your hand to squeeze the pork, shape it into a ball somewhat and place on a plate. Repeat for all the pork pieces Giving the pork a bit of a squeeze will help to tighten the meat so that it will retain its juice

Heat oil until it gets to 150˚C or 300˚F, put the pork in and gently move them around to ensure even cooking. Cook for approx. 5 minutes, until the outside batter has a light golden color. Remove from heat and let it rest on a cooling rack

Heat a pan at medium-high heat and add 2 tbsp of oil

Add onions and garlic and fry until onions are slightly soft and put into a bowl for later use. Turn off heat and return to finish frying the pork. Doing this step before frying the pork for the second time will ensure that both the sauce and the pork will be as hot as possible at the time of serving since onions and garlic take a bit more time to soften in the pan

Bring the deep frying oil to 200˚C or 400˚F. Put all the pork back into the oil and fry for another minute or two until the pork becomes a golden-brown color and remove from heat

Heat pan to medium-high and add the already cooked garlic and onions; peppers; chilis; and fruit. Stir-fry for 1 minute

Add the sauce mixture and mix well with the vegetables and fruit

Stir the slurry (before pouring into the pan). Pour slurry into the pan and mix well with the vegetables and fruit. Turn off heat

Add the pork into the pan and stir until all the pork pieces are covered with the sauce

Put everything onto a large plate without having any of the pork stacked on top of each other This will help to prolong the crispiness of the pork

NUTRITION

Calories: 1020kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 17gFat: 93gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 375mgPotassium: 390mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 432IUVitamin C: 39mgCalcium: 23mgIron: 2mg