Sweet sour pork with plum sauce
My comfort food as a child, the flavor of sweet sour pork is even more delightful with the addition of plum sauce and oyster sauce to the basic sweet sour sauce.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
Pork
- 500 grams pork (1.1 pounds) cut into one-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 teaspoon potato starch or cornstarch
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda to tenderize the pork
To fry the pork
- cooking oil for deep frying
- 1 small egg
- ¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder to create a very light crust
Vegetables
- 1 teaspoon cooking oil
- 2 to 4 shallots peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 large red bell pepper deseeded and diced
- 1 large green bell pepper deseeded and diced
- ¾ cup pineapple chunks
Sweet sour sauce
- 6 tablespoons white sugar
- 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon grated garlic
- ¼ teaspoon grated ginger
- 2 heaping tablespoons plum sauce available in Asian groceries
- 1 heaping tablespoons oyster sauce available in Asian groceries
- ¼ teaspoon sesame seed oil available in Asian groceries
Instructions
Marinate the pork
- Place the pork in a bowl.
- Stir together the soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, starch and baking soda, and pour over the pork.
- Mix well.
- Cover the bowl and marinate in the fridge overnight.
Fry the pork
- In a wok, start heating enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches.
- Mix together the egg, starch and baking powder, and stir into the pork to coat each piece evenly.
- Drop the battered pork cubes one by one into the hot oil and cook at 325F for seven to eight minutes or until cooked through.
- Scoop out the pork and transfer to a strainer.
Cook the vegetables
- In a large wok, heat the teaspoonful of oil.
- Stir fry the shallots and bell pepper for a minute.
- Add the pineapple chunks and stir fry for another fifteen seconds.
- Scoop everything out and transfer to a plate.
Make the sweet sour sauce
- Into the same wok, pour in the sugar and rice vinegar.
- Over medium heat, boil until the sugar is almost dissolved.
- Stir in the salt, grated garlic and ginger.
- Add the plum sauce and oyster sauce.
- Set the heat to medium-low and continue cooking the sauce until reduced and thick enough for a canal to form when you drag a spatula across the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in the sesame seed oil.
Finish your sweet sour pork
- Dump the pork, vegetables and pineapple into the sauce.
- Cook, tossing, until the pork cubes are coated with the sticky sweet sour sauce.