Easy Sweet and Sour Pork (Chinese Takeaway Copycat)

Think Chinese takeaway style Sweet and Sour Pork is too difficult to make at home? Think again! This Easy Sweet and Sour Pork is not only quick and simple to make, it’s also healthier than a standard takeaway version… and cheaper too! What’s not to like?

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 443kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

Crispy Pork

500 g pork loin steaks chopped into bite-sized chunks
¼ teaspoon baking soda (See Note 1)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 egg
4 tablespoons cornflour (US - cornstarch)
250 ml sunflower oil for deep(ish) frying (See Note 2)

Sweet and Sour

1 tablespoon cornflour (US - cornstarch)
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar, or rice wine vinegar)
3 tablespoons soy sauce (I use dark, but light or all purpose works fine too. Use tamari if you need this to be gluten free.)
3 cloves garlic grated or crushed
1 cm fresh ginger grated
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons brown sugar
425 g tin pineapple chunks in juice (separate the juice and the chunks)
1 large red pepper chopped into bite-sized chunks – roughly 3cm x 3cm / 1¼inch x 1¼inch
1 large green pepper chopped into bite-sized chunks – roughly 3cm x 3cm / 1¼inch x 1¼inch
1 large red onion chopped into 8 wedges and then each wedge chopped in half to get 16 fat chunks

To Serve

3 spring onions finely sliced – for garnish (optional)
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Jasmine rice (or any type of rice you prefer)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preparation

Place the pork chunks in a large bowl. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of baking soda and pour over 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Use your hands to turn the pork and get it evenly coated with the baking soda and soy sauce (see Note 1). Set aside until later.
In a clean jam jar (or similar), place 1 tablespoon of cornflour and the apple cider vinegar. Stir to combine thoroughly.
Add the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, tomato puree and brown sugar, and stir to combine thoroughly.
Add all the juice from the pineapple tin and stir to combine thoroughly. Set aside until later.

Crispy Pork

Place ALL the sunflower oil in your wok, and heat the oil over a high heat for 2 minutes. (See Note 2.)
Meanwhile, add the egg and the cornflour to the pork bowl and use your hands to turn the pork and get it evenly coated with the egg and cornflour. (See Note 3.)
Carefully add HALF the pork pieces to the hot sunflower oil, using tongs, and deep fry, turning each piece occasionally, until golden brown on all sides. (Approximately 3-4 minutes total - see Note 4.) Place 2 pieces of kitchen roll on a plate. Remove the pork to the plate.
Repeat for the second half of the pork, using the same oil.

Sweet and Sour

Remove the oil from the wok (see Note 5) and return the pan back onto a high heat. Add the chopped peppers and red onion. Fry for 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add the pineapple chunks and homemade sweet and sour sauce, and then turn the heat down. Simmer for 1 minute, stirring regularly. Finally add back in the pork, stir to coat the pork in the sauce and simmer for 1 more minute.
Turn the heat off immediately to stop the pork losing too much of its crispness, or the sauce getting too thick.

To Serve

Serve immediately with jasmine rice, and garnished with sliced spring onions and sesame seeds.

Notes

Using baking soda is a Chinese restaurant secret hack! It tenderises the meat, meaning that, though your pork is crispy on the outside, you will get super tender pork inside!
Use a neutral oil such as rapeseed, vegetable or sunflower. Alternatively, if you prefer cooking with olive oil, use a mild olive oil.
This is another little hack. You’ll see a lot of recipes call for separate bowls of egg and cornflour – but this gets messy and is time-consuming. I’ve found just chucking everything into the one bowl works just as well and is much easier!
Cooked as per the above instructions, the pork should be fully cooked all the way through after it has been fried. However, if you are at all unsure, check the pork is cooked through by cutting open the largest piece you can find. There should be no pink meat. If you do find pink meat, return the pork to the hot oil and continue cooking for a further minute, then check again.
Please take extreme care when removing the oil from your wok as it’s super hot and even just a small splash can cause a serious burn.
Suitable for freezing. (But the pork will lose its crispy-ness if you do.)
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition