Sweet and sour pork

click HERE for a printable version

I love chinese food. Or the idea we have of what chinese food tastes like. Doesn´t matter. Still love it. So I prepared an all family favorite today, sweet and sour pork.

1                           pork tenderloin (app. 600 g)
                             ground szechuan pepper and salt (the szechuan pepper corns should be
                             slightly toasted in a dry pan in advance to enhance the taste)
1   teaspoon          ground, fresh ginger
1                           egg
2   tablespoons     Sake or chinese rice wine
1   tablespoon       regular chinese soy sauce
4-5 tablespoons    Corn starch (Maizena)

Oil for deepfrying



2     tablespoons  peanut oil
1     bunch           spring onions
1                         red and green bell pepper
10   cm               cucumber
2     slices            fresh pineapple
2     cm                freshly grated ginger
2                         garlic cloves cut into very thin slices
2     tablespoons  tomato paste
3     tablespoons  soy sauce
3     tablespoons rice vinegar
2     tablespoons mango chutney
250 ml               freshly squeezed orange juice
1     tablespoon  corn starch
                          salt, pepper, MSG (optional)


Clean the pork loin and cut it into 1 cm thick slices and those into strips.
Season with szechuan pepper and salt. Dissolve 2-3 tbsp cornstarch in the Sake and soy sauce. Slightly beat the egg and mix with the other ingredients of the marinade. Pour over the meet, stir and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Cut the bell peppers into 3x3 cm cubes, the spring onion into 3 cm long pieces, the pineapple into small segments and halve the cucumber and cut into thin slices.

In a little bowl mix tomato paste, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chutney. In a second bowl dissolve the corn starch with the orange juice.

Preheat the oven to 80°C. Heat the oil for deepfrying in a wok to medium-high heat (stick the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil, if some bubbles appear on the spoon, the oil has the right temperature).

Prepare a platter with some paper towels. Take a freezer bag and fill in the remaining cornstarch and the meat. Close and shake until the cornstarch is evenly spread around the meat pieces.

Fry the meat in portions until golden brown. Remove from the wok with a skimmer, place on the platter and put it in the oven to keep warm. Proceed until all the meat is fried.

Heat a little peanut oil in a second wok. Add the bell pepper and fry - stirring constantly - for one minute, add the spring onion and fry one more minute. Now add cucumber, ginger and garlic and fry for another minute.

Add the pineapple and the soy sauce mixture and finally the orange juice with the corn starch. Let thicken. Season with salt, pepper and MSG (if you like) and mix in the meat.

Serve immediately with rice.

©just-cook!