Sweet & Sour Pork (Chicken, Shrimp).- Not red and not the same old dish....

 Sweet & Sour Pork (Chicken, Shrimp) .- An old favorite in those Chinese Restaurants you see in the movies with a dish of Sweet & Sour Pork, with it's characteristic neon red sauce. This is not that one, instead a rich combination of spices and veggies that come together for a fantastic meal.

This is a simple recipe to prepare and can also be prepared in advance and in parts to be brought together at dinnertime. On this occasion I used Pork Leg, boneless but you can use whatever you have like riblets, fatty meat, cut into bit size chunks. You can use chicken, cut up, pre-cooked chicken wings, shrimp (just be sure to put in at the end so it doesn't overcook)

To prepare Sweet & Sour Pork you'll need:

500-600g Pork meat, cut into bite sized cubes

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 Garlic Clove, finely grated

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1/3 cup flour

2 tsp vegetable oil (you'll need more for frying)

1 onion, diced

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1/2 Green or Yellow Bell Pepper, diced

100g fresh Pineapple, diced

4 Spring Onions, trimmed, cut in batons

Rice to serve

Sweet & sour sauce:    

½ cup brown sugar

3 tbsp white vinegar

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1/3 cup pineapple juice

¼ tsp Chinese five spice

2 tsp corn flour (cornstarch) mixed with 2 tbsp water

STEPS TO PREPARE.-

1.-    Put meat in a bowl. Add Soy Sauce, garlic and pepper and mix well. Let rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the other parts.

2.-    Make the Sweet & Sour Sauce: In a saucepan, put the brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, pineapple juice and Chinese Five Spice over Medium heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes so the sugar is well dissolved. Place the cornstarch/water in a glass and mix. Once the sauce starts bubbling, add the cornstarch slurry and stir 2 minutes more and it will thicken. Remove from the heat until ready to use.

3.-    Cooking the pork.- Fill a wok with about 2 inches of oil, you can use any heavy pan, bring it up to temperature 180 C. While oil is heating up, toss the pork with the flour so it's well coated and begin to cook, in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan. 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Put on grate or paper towel.

4.-    In a clean wok or frying pan over high heat, add the oil and stir-fry the onion for a minute or two. Add the Peppers and continue to stir-fry. Now add the pineapple, make sure it's touching the surface of the pan so it will get charred bits. Mix everything well. Now is time to add the Sweet & Sour Sauce and again, mix well. Serve.

I hope you will try this recipe, you'll see how easy it is to prepare and the wonderful flavor that will please you're whole family.

NOTE: Just like you can change the type of protein to use, you can use many other types of vegetables in the mix as well. For hard vegetables simply par cook them first i.e.: carrots