Sweet and sour pork

Sweet and sour pork

I have fallen in love with the natural sweetness of the free range pork produced by Boxgum Grazing. I’ve been thinking that their pork strips would make a lovely sweet and sour pork. We’ve all experienced the greasy, stodgy sweet and sour pork of Australian take away stores. But it is really quite easy to make a lovely fresh and light version of the dish that more closely resembles the original. It’s such a wonderful way to maximise flavour. I am often amazed at how much the sweet and sour combination gets my palate going. I don’t just use it in Chinese cooking, but it was the Cantonese who first mastered the idea of balancing the sweet and sour in a dish to bring out the best of all the ingredients.

Serves 2

400	grams	pork strips
1	tablespoon	corn flour
1		egg
1	tablespoon	rice wine
1/2	cup	oil
1	teaspoon	ginger, finely chopped
1	clove	garlic, finely chopped
4		spring onions
2	tablespoons	Chinese red vinegar
	grams	pineapple pieces in juice
1/2	teaspoon	sugar
1	pinch	salt

Toss the pork strips with corn flour. Beat together the egg and rice wine and coat the pork strips. Marinade for at least 30 minutes.

Place a wok or frying pan on a high heat. When it’s hot, add the oil. When the oil’s hot, fry the pork strips in batches till golden on the outside, and barely cooked on the inside. Set the prk aside on paper towel to drain.

Finely slice the white part of the spring onions, and chop the green part into 5 centimetre pieces.

Sweet and sour pork served with egg fried rice and stir fried garlic shoots

Tip out any excess oil from the pan and turn down the heat. Stir fry the ginger, garlic and white spring onions. When they are soft and fragrant, add the vinegar, pineapple pieces and pineapple juice. Taste and add sugar and salt to balance the flavours. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes to thicken, then return the pork to the pan. When the pork is heated through and the sauce has the desired consistency, add the green onions to the pan, toss through and serve.

I served this with egg fried rice and stir fried garlic shoots. It made an excellent, well balanced meal.