I love sweet and sour pork but the stuff that comes from most western Chinese restaurants is unbearably sweet sauce over deep fried hunks of fatty deep fried pork. I have made it tasty with less sweet and lean stir fried pork. Welcome to Sweet & Sour Pork Stir Fry.
Before I get into the recipe, I am going to go into a food safety tip. I recently saw one from Louisiana Grills on twitter and I decided to touch one food safety tip in each of my posts.
The tip for this post is easy, wash your hands.
Wash your hands before you start cooking. Who knows where those fingers have been and you don’t want the kids runny nose juice or the mold from the bathroom or whatever on your food.
Wash your hands after handling any fresh food or meat. Fresh vegetables have been known to have listeria, ecoli and other germs on them. Wash your hands after working with them and you won’t transfer the germs to other foods.
Washing your hands after handling meat is even more important. There is a long list of nasties that live in and on meat. After handling it you don’t want them in your salad, sauce or whatever.
When you are finished cooking, wash your hands. It is the last protection from spreading germs to your kids and families.
If you aren’t sure if you need to wash your hands after any part of cooking, wash them. Once you get in the habit it will be second nature.
So ends the cleanliness sermon for this post.
I started the pork by pouring the juice off a can of pineapple chunks into a bowl.
I added soy sauce, sherry (I used cooking sherry), cider vinegar, brown sugar, Sriracha sauce and cornstarch to the pineapple juice.
I heated a tablespoon of oil in my wok until it was starting to smoke. I tossed the pork in and stir fried for 5 or 6 minutes until the pork was browned.
I added some chopped vegetables. You can use any vegetables you like. I chose broccoli, red pepper, yellow pepper and carrots for a good blend of colour. I stir fried for about 2 minutes and then added the drained pineapple chunks. I continued stir frying until the vegetables were hot and brightly coloured, about 2 minutes more.
I stirred the liquid mixture to make sure the cornstarch was mixed in and added it to the wok. I cooked until the liquid was thickened and shiny.
I transferred the stir fry to a serving dish and served it with rice.
The Verdict
This had a nice sweet sour blend without being overly sweet. The chunks of pineapple added a sweet/tart balance of their own. The pork was tasty and tender and went well with the crisp stir fried vegetables.
This is quick easy and good! It is also a good way to introduce kids to stir fried food.
The Old Fat Guy
Ingredients
- 400 grams (1 pound) lean pork, cubed
- 1 can (414 ml/14 oz) pineapple chunks
- 25 ml (2 tablespoons) soy sauce
- 25 ml (2 tablespoons) sherry (I used cooking sherry)
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) cider vinegar
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) brown sugar
- 2 ml (1/4 teaspoon) Sriracha Sauce
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) cornstarch
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) vegetable oil
- 500 ml (2 cups) vegetables, chopped (I used broccoli, red and yellow peppers, carrots)
Instructions
- Pour the liquid from the pineapple in a bowl.
- Add the soy sauce, sherry, cider vinegar, brown sugar, Sriracha sauce and cornstarch. Mix.
- Put the oil in a wok and heat until the oil just starts to smoke.
- Add the pork and stir fry until browned and cooked through.
- Add the vegetables and stir fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the drained pineapple chunks and stir fry until the vegetables are crisp cooked and hot.
- Stir the liquid mixture to make sure the cornstarch is mixed in.
- Pour the liquid into the wok and cook until the liquid is thick and shiny.
- Serve over rice.
