(Traditional) Sweet & Sour Pork

The Lowdown:

Firstly, I don't really have the right to call this traditional sweet & sour pork. I don't have a clue what traditional Chinese food entails. I'm not going to lie, I was not there hundreds of years ago to deem this dish as traditional. Also, I do not know what traditional ingredients are. I only know what is produced there now, in the import/export economy. However, I do know the Americanized version you get for take-out (when you order by number and not dish name), and this recipe is much different. In fact, the only reason I called it "traditional" is because Chef Martin Yan, from The Yan Can Cook Book (1981), asserted that this was the traditional Cantonese style of sweet & sour. I also felt that 1981, being lightyears ago, was before the large influx of American-Chinese food restaurants that have taken over.

I don't normally make this style of cuisine, because I'm not a huge fan of deep frying. Really, all it is is a potential explosion waiting to happen. But really, when you have a pineapple and a pork roast that have to be used what else is there to do? It was only natural that I make this dish. Almost as though the stars aligned perfectly for this to happen. Or, in reality, I made a few silly shopping errors and ended up with pork and pineapple that sat in the fridge. Potato potato (that really doesn't get the point across when it is typed out).

The Playlist:

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 cup Rice wine vinegar
3/4 cup Sugar
1 1/3 cups Water
1 tbsp Canola oil
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Ginger, finely minced
3 tbsp Corn starch
1 Tomato, blended until smooth (optional)

Pork Marinade
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp White wine
0.5 kg Pork, cut into 2 cm cubes

Breading
1/4 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup Rice flour

Vegetables
2 Carrots, sliced thin
1 Onion, sliced thin
1/2 Pineapple, 1 cm cubes

Oil for frying

The Skinny:

1. Marinade pork in a shallow dish for 30 minutes, then dredge with flour (I reuse produce bags from the grocery for this step as you can shake the pork and flour vigorously ensuring all is coated).
2. In medium pot: combined all ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat and allow to simmer while the rest of the meal cooks. If the sauce is too thin add more corn starch.
3. In large wok: heat oil to frying temperature then cook pork for 5 minutes, or until golden brown on the outsides. Once cooked, remove pork and allow oil to cool.
4. Once oil has cooled put it in a glass jar for safe keeping (or disposal) then clean the wok. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the wok and turn heat to medium-high. Cook your vegetables, mixing often so that they do not burn.
5. Mix the vegetables and pork and generously glaze with the sweet & sour sauce.

Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Chef in Training, Simple Living

Stay Rad -h

Homemade Sweet & Sour Chicken

The Lowdown:

 
Okay, we all have our dirty habits. Some people smoke, some people masturbate in public, some people drink Budweiser, etc. It just so happens that sweet and sour chicken is one of a mine (one out of two million bad habits to be precise). I know its not technically Chinese food, and I also know the health benefits are comparable to Cheetos, and I also know that every foodie is going to cringe. I'm okay with all of these. I had broccoli for lunch, I don't really care about rigid food rules, and foodies will always do what they do best -- complain.   

So there I was sitting at my computer, doing math homework (yay), when all of a sudden it hit me. Hunger. So I got out my yellow pages and searched for Chinese (it that sounds so racist when typed). The whole philosophy was that I could continue plugging away at the aforementioned homework while also satisfying my primal urge to ravage a Friday night take-out classic. One key issue. It's Friday night and I'm doing math homework like I'm some sort of dweeb. Surely, if I keep this up I'll get shoved into a locker and all my lunch money stolen in no time.

Obviously, I decided that cooking was a much better waste of time than math. Besides, I needed to listen to some music or I'd go insane. To break the silence, the album of choice tonight is The Alan Parsons Project, "Pyramid." With the steady rhythm of acid induced British progressive rock, and the MSG ready to go, it was time to start. 

The Ingredients:

(printable recipe)

1/2 cup Flour.

1 tsp Baking powder.

1/2 tsp Baking soda.

1 tsp White pepper.

1 tsp Course salt.

1 Egg

Water

1 Chicken breast, cubed.

1 cup Vegetable oil (for frying).

1 Bell pepper, chopped.

1 Mango, cubed (optional).

1/4 - 1/2 Pineapple, cubed.

3/4 cup Sugar (I only use 1/4 - 1/2 cup because my ex-good body is getting handles).

2 cups Water.

1/2 cup Vinegar.

1 tbsp Orange zest.

3 drops Red food colouring (I ended up using red sugar sprinkles for cake decoration because I was too lazy to go to the store to get food colouring).

3 tbsp Corn starch

1/4 cup Water.

 

 The Skinny:                                                                                 

1. Combined fist six ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix together.
2. Add enough water into the mixture to turn into the consistency of pancake mix.
3. Add cubed chicken, ensuring that each piece is well coated.
4. Set chicken and batter aside.
5. In a medium sauce pan combined the peppers, mango, pineapple, 2 cups water, sugar, orange zest, vinegar, and food colouring.
6. Bring sweet and sour sauce to a boil on medium heat.
7. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
8. To thicken, mix the 1/4 cup water and corn starch into a cup and mix until it forms a slurry. Pour it slowly into the sweet and sour sauce, making sure to mix thoroughly every few tablespoons worth of corn starch water.
9. On medium-high heat add oil to a large skillet or wok.
10. Once oil is heated, place battered chicken into wok and fry until browned (5-10 minutes).
11. Drizzle sweet and sour sauce over the fried chicken.
12. Serve on noodles or rice or by itself.
    
    NOTE: if you want to reheat the sweet and sour chicken it is best to leave the sauce off of the chicken balls (haha), other wise it will get soggy overnight.

Featured in Chef in Training, 33 Shades of Green