Chinese pork in sweet and sour sauce

This dish is available in almost every Asian restaurant, but few realize how simple it is to prepare, and specific ingredients like rice vinegar can be successfully replaced with more familiar ones without compromising the final taste of the dish.

Pork in Chinese sweet and sour sauce in a frying pan (gabajou)

A traditional Chinese dish that will perfectly diversify your usual diet or decorate a holiday table. The meat turns out juicy, crispy and has a very unusual taste.

1. 
   How to cook Chinese pork in sweet and sour sauce? Rinse the meat under running water, cut off all fat layers if possible and cut into medium-sized pieces.
2. 
   Transfer the meat to a deep bowl, add salt, mix thoroughly so that the salt is distributed throughout the pork, and leave to steep for 5 minutes.
3. 
   Add starch and water to the marinated meat and stir.
4. 
   Heat a frying pan with enough vegetable oil. It should partially cover the meat, creating a deep-fried effect. Fry the pork in parts.
5. 
   Fry the meat until a light golden crust appears.
6. 
   Drain the used oil from the pan, add sugar, tomato paste and water.
7. 
   Dilute two teaspoons of starch with water and stir until smooth.
8. 
   Boil the tomato mixture over low heat for a few minutes, then pour in the vinegar essence, stir and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour in the diluted starch and a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, stir and continue cooking the sauce until thickened.
9. 
   Add meat to the thickened sauce, heat in a frying pan for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly, and pour in sesame oil. Serve this pork with a neutral side dish, such as rice.

Bon appetit!

Pork in sweet and sour sauce with pineapples

Both the sauce and the pork itself will go well with pineapples in this dish. The recipe will appeal to those who love unusual combinations, such as meatballs with lingonberry sauce.

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Servings – 3-4

Ingredients:

• Pork – 500 gr.
• Canned pineapples – 150 gr.
• Bell pepper – 1-2 pcs.
• Potato starch – 1 tbsp.
• Soy sauce – 3 tbsp.
• Ground ginger – 1 tsp.
• Garlic – 1-2 teeth.
• Vegetable oil – 3-4 tbsp.
• Salt - to taste;
• Ground black pepper - to taste;

For the sauce:

• Vinegar 6% - 1 tbsp.
• Soy sauce – 3 tbsp.
• Ketchup – 2 tbsp.
• Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp.

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat under running water and cut into small square pieces. Place in a deep bowl, add salt, starch and ground ginger. Pour in soy sauce, mix thoroughly and leave to steep for 30 minutes.

2. Press the garlic cloves with a garlic press or finely chop them with a knife. Peel the bell pepper from seeds and cut into square cubes.

3. In a small container, mix soy sauce, ketchup, sugar and vinegar. Stir everything until you get a homogeneous sauce.

4. Heat a little vegetable oil in a thick-bottomed frying pan, add pieces of pork and fry over medium heat until golden brown. Fry the meat in sections because otherwise it will release too much liquid and will simmer rather than sear.

5. Place the fried pork in a separate bowl, and in the same frying pan, fry the garlic and bell pepper for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

6. Return the pork to the pan and pour over the pre-prepared sauce.

7. Cut the pineapples into small pieces and add to the dish. Pour 100 milliliters of boiling water into the pan, cover with a lid and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

8. Season the finished dish with salt and pepper if necessary. This pork goes well with a neutral side dish such as rice.

Bon appetit!

Juicy pork in sweet and sour sauce with vegetables

Vegetables in sweet and sour sauce can serve as an independent dish, but the combination with pork gives it a real Asian flavor.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings – 5

Ingredients:

• Pork – 700 gr.
• Carrots – 1 pc.
• Sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
• Zucchini – ½ pc.
• Garlic – 2 teeth.
• Soy sauce – 4 tbsp.
• Granulated sugar – 3 tbsp.
• Water – 8 tbsp.
• Vinegar 9% - 2 tbsp.
• Potato starch – 2 tbsp.
• Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp.
• Ginger root – 5 gr.
• Hot pepper – 1 pc.
• Salt - to taste;

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat first and, if necessary, trim off the fatty layers. Cut it across the grain into thin slices about 3-4 millimeters thick, then divide it across the grain into smaller pieces.

2. In a deep bowl, mix half the soy sauce and finely chopped or crushed garlic, add the meat there, stir and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. Wash the sweet pepper, remove all the seeds and cut into squares of approximately 2 by 2 centimeters.

4. Without peeling the skin, cut the zucchini into quarters.

5. Cut carrots and hot peppers into thin circles, and ginger into strips. To make the pepper less spicy, remove the seeds from it first.

6. For the sweet and sour sauce, in a separate bowl, combine sugar, water, vinegar and soy sauce. Stir everything until the sugar is completely dissolved. Dilute the starch with a small amount of water to avoid lumps and add to the sauce. Stir also.

7. Heat a frying pan with vegetable oil and fry the carrots in it until golden brown.

8. Then add the remaining vegetables to the pan and fry until soft, stirring regularly. At this stage you can lightly salt them.

9. For now, transfer the prepared vegetables to a separate container, and place the pork in the frying pan. Fry it for a few minutes until golden brown. If you ate a lot of meat, it is better to fry it in several batches, because otherwise a lot of juice will be released and the pork will stew in it.Therefore, it is better to divide the entire volume of pork into about three parts, fry them alternately, and put the finished meat in a bowl with vegetables.

10. When the pork is cooked, return the vegetables to the pan and fry everything together for another 5 minutes.

11. Then pour the prepared sauce into the frying pan and actively mix it with meat and vegetables. As soon as it begins to thicken noticeably, remove the pan from the heat, continuing to stir the contents. If the sauce is too thick for your liking, thin it with a little hot water.

Bon appetit!

How to cook pork in sweet and sour sauce with starch?

Starch acts as a thickener, thanks to which the sauce will envelop the meat. If you don't add it, it will take much longer for the sauce to evaporate to the desired consistency, which increases the risk of the sugar burning. It can also be used as a soft breading.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings – 6-8

Ingredients:

• Pork – 1 kg.
• Carrots – 1 pc.
• Egg – 1 pc.
• Potato starch – 2 tbsp.
• Rice vinegar – 1 tbsp.
• Soy sauce – 1 tbsp.
• Bell pepper – 2 pcs.
• Green onion – 1 bunch;
• Vegetable oil – 200 ml.

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce – 2 tbsp.
• Rice vinegar – 2 tbsp.
• Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp.
• Tomato paste – 1 tbsp.
• Potato starch – 1 tsp.
• Chicken broth – 170 ml.

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the pork, cut off any fatty layers, if any, or choose lean parts for the dish. Cut the meat into cubes. Mix vinegar, soy sauce and salt in a deep bowl, add pork to the mixture, stir and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables.Cut the carrots into small cubes and blanch in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Chop the onion feathers and cut the bell pepper into small squares, after removing the seeds.

3. In a small bowl, beat the egg with starch and pour into the meat. Stir until mixture completely coats pork.

4. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. The degree of heating can be checked with a wooden spatula: when immersed, small bubbles should appear from it. Fry the meat until golden brown on both sides, placing them in the pan in small portions.

5. For the sauce, mix all ingredients except starch and pour into another pan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil, add vegetables, stir and simmer covered for several minutes. Meanwhile, mix the starch in a glass with two tablespoons of water and pour into the vegetables. Stir vigorously and simmer for a couple more minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.

6. Remove the pan from the heat, add the meat to the vegetables and mix thoroughly until the sauce completely covers the meat.

Bon appetit!

Step-by-step recipe for cooking pork with rice in sweet and sour sauce

Rice perfectly complements this type of dish either on its own, since it has a neutral taste, or with a dressing of rice vinegar, salt and sugar. This way the dish becomes even more similar to Asian cuisine.

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings – 4

Ingredients:

• Pork – 500 gr.
• Long grain rice – 400 gr.
• Bell pepper – 2 pcs.
• Cucumber – 1 pc.
• Canned pineapples – 250 gr.
• Garlic – 3-4 teeth.
• Tomato paste – 2 tbsp.
• Meat broth – 100 gr.
• Soy sauce – 1 tbsp.
• Oyster sauce – 5 tbsp.
• Starch – 50 gr.
• Egg – 1 pc.
• Vegetable oil – 500 ml.
• Granulated sugar – 2 tbsp.

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the rice in cool water several times until it stops becoming cloudy. Cook until done according to package instructions. It is recommended to take the proportions of rice and water 1:2.

2. Wash the bell pepper, remove seeds and membranes and cut into medium-sized cubes or cubes. Also cut the cucumber. Peel the onion and chop it into half rings, and cut the garlic clove in half.

3. To prepare sweet and sour sauce, mix tomato paste with soy sauce, add meat broth, salt and sugar. Stir everything until the sugar dissolves in the liquid.

4. Heat a frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil and fry the vegetables in it for a few minutes until soft. Reduce heat, pour in the prepared sauce, stir and leave to simmer covered for 10 minutes.

5. Cut the canned pineapple into small pieces, if it was originally in rings, and add to the vegetables. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

6. Rinse the pork, trim off any layers of fat and cut into small pieces.

7. In a small bowl, beat the egg with starch, if necessary, dilute with a small amount of cool water if the mixture is too thick.

8. Pour the resulting mixture over the pork and stir until the meat is completely covered.

9. Heat vegetable oil in another frying pan. When small bubbles begin to actively form when a wooden skewer or spatula is immersed in it, this means that the oil has heated up to the desired temperature. Deep-fry the pork on both sides until golden brown. Do not fry everything at once, but divide into small portions, otherwise the oil will boil too much.

10.Place the finished pork over the vegetables and stir until it is completely covered with the sauce. You can place rice and pork with vegetables separately on a plate, or you can put rice under them so that it is also soaked in the sauce, here act at your own discretion.

Bon appetit!

Pork with Udon noodles in sweet and sour sauce

Udon noodles are traditional Asian noodles, which include salt and mineral water, which gives it a special taste and makes it an excellent addition to any oriental cuisine.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings – 6

Ingredients:

• Pork – 700 gr.
• Udon noodles – 700 gr.
• Carrots – 1 pc.
• Bell pepper – 1 pc.
• Zucchini – 1 pc.
• Eggplant – 1 pc.
• Garlic – 3 teeth.
• Ginger – 30 gr.
• Vegetable oil - for frying;

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce – 4 tbsp.
• Apple vinegar – 2 tbsp.
• Honey – 3 tbsp.
• Chili powder – ¼ tsp.
• Corn starch – 2 tsp.
• Ketchup – 3 tbsp.

Cooking process:

1. Remove pre-washed pork from any fatty layers, if any, and cut into thin pieces. Heat a frying pan over high heat with a small amount of vegetable oil and fry the pork in parts until golden brown. If you fry all the meat in one go, too much juice will be released and it will simply stew.

2. Prepare the vegetables. Cut the carrots into cubes, chop the pepper into thick strips, and the eggplant and zucchini into thin half rings. Drain excess oil from the pan in which the pork was fried and fry the carrots for 1 minute, stirring regularly.

3. Next, add the remaining vegetables, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few more minutes until they become soft.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients until smooth.

5.In a separate pan, cook noodles according to instructions.

6. Pour the prepared sauce into the pan with the vegetables and add the pork. Stir everything vigorously until the sauce begins to thicken. Then remove the dishes from the heat and, continuing to stir, add the noodles to the dish. If the sauce seems too thick, thin it with hot water.

Bon appetit!

Delicious pork in Chinese sauce with bell pepper

Sweet bell peppers are a very characteristic element of Asian dishes. It goes well with the sauce and pork and adds freshness and juiciness to the dish.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings – 4

Ingredients:

• Pork – 500 gr.
• Bell pepper – 150 gr.
• Canned pineapples – 150 gr.
• Soy sauce – 3 tbsp.
• Corn starch – 1 tbsp.
• Garlic – 2-3 teeth.
• Vegetable oil - for frying;

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce – 3 tbsp.
• Ketchup – 2 tbsp.
• Apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp.
• Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp.
• Salt - to taste;

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat under running water, trim off the fat, if any, and cut into small thin slices.

2. In a small bowl, mix starch and soy sauce, adding a little salt if necessary. Place the chopped pork in a bowl, stir until the mixture completely covers the pieces of meat, and leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.

3. Remove the stalk from the bell pepper, cut it in half, peel the seeds and cut the flesh into small cubes. Pass the garlic through a garlic press or finely chop it with a knife.

4. In a small container, combine all the ingredients for the sauce. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

5. Heat a frying pan with vegetable oil and fry the pork in it until golden brown for 2-3 minutes on each side.Fry the meat in parts so that a large amount of juice is not released at a time, in which it will begin to stew.

6. Place the meat in a separate container, and place the pepper and garlic in the frying pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.

7. When the peppers soften, return the meat to the pan and pour in the pre-prepared sauce. Mix thoroughly so that the liquid covers all the ingredients and simmer over medium heat under the lid for several minutes.

8. Cut the pineapples into small pieces, if they were originally rings in the jar, and also add to the dish. For added spice, you can add a little hot pepper. Stir vigorously.

9. Pour half a glass of boiling water into the pan, maybe a little more if your sauce starts to thicken too much, and stir. Cover the mixture with a lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes, adding boiling water if necessary.

10. Salt the finished pork with vegetables if necessary and serve with a neutral side dish, for example, rice or noodles.

Bon appetit!