Sweet and sour pork is a traditional Chinese dish. Suitable for cooking exclusively lean pork. Rice or udon noodles are ideal as a side dish.
To cook pork in sweet and sour sauce according to the Chinese recipe for 4 servings, you will need:
- 400-600 g of meat;
- 1 carrot;
- 4-6 peppers;
- a tablespoon of flour;
- 2-5 tablespoons of starch;
- 1 ginger root;
- 0.5 liters of vegetable oil;
- 1-5 tablespoons of soy sauce;
- 4-5 tablespoons of tomato paste;
- a tablespoon of sugar;
- a tablespoon of vinegar;
- a can of pineapples (270-300 g);
- 1 yolk;
- spices and salt to taste.
In addition, at least half a liter of vegetable oil is needed, since the meat will be deep-fried. Ginger can be used either fresh or ground. The multi-colored peppers give the dish an interesting color and aroma.
The pork is thoroughly washed, then cut into small pieces. About a centimeter by a centimeter. Pieces need to be pickled. To do this, add yolk, salt to the meat, a tablespoon of starch and water, two - soy sauce. In the refrigerator, the meat must be marinated for at least forty minutes.
The longer the pork is marinated, the softer it will be in the future. If you add more soy sauce, then the meat will be more aromatic and more interesting to the taste.
The ginger root is finely chopped for the sauce. Bell peppers too. The smaller they are, the thicker and richer the sauce will be, and most importantly, it will be easier for them to water the pork in the future. After the meat is marinated, it must be deep-fried. To do this, roll the pork pieces in starch, and brush off the excess.
In a saucepan, you need to heat vegetable oil, put a colander or a special sieve, put meat in it in portions so that it is evenly fried. Ideally, the pieces should be completely submerged in the boiling oil. Roasting time: 40-60 seconds. After the pieces of meat are fried, they are laid out on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Double frying makes the meat crisp but very tender. The second frying occurs immediately after the first, until the oil has stopped boiling, otherwise the meat will be too fatty and not crispy.
The sauce is very simple to prepare: first, ginger and carrots, cut into thin slices, are fried in vegetable oil in a frying pan. Then bell peppers and salt are introduced. When vegetables are fried (with constant stirring), canned pineapples are added to them. After that, vinegar, sugar and tomato paste or sauce are quickly added. Everything is mixed and stewed over low heat for 5-10 minutes. To make the sauce thick, flour or starch mixed with water is added to it. When the consistency is cool enough, but not dry, ready-made pieces of meat are added to the sauce and stewed for another 5 minutes.
This cooking method is traditional for Chinese cuisine. In rare exceptions, the components are changed. For example, more spices are added. From this, the sweet and sour sauce will not lose its taste, and the meat will only become more aromatic and piquant. Sometimes pork is not cut into small pieces, but into small strips. Which is also correct. However, for a side dish in the form of udon noodles, it is precisely the pieces that are suitable, since they are easier to chew, and when deep-fried, they do not lose much moisture. That is, they remain juicy and soft.
