This super simple Sweet & Sour Pork dish tastes as good, if not better than the take-away version. Even though it’s technically homemade, this is a sort of cheats version since I used premixed tempura flour and ready made sweet & sour sauce.
I love making things from scratch, but who doesn’t like a little time saver on a busy evening. Tempura flour is basically a combination of flour, corn starch, salt and raising agent. Not difficult to make at all but on this occasion I wanted convenience. The same applies to sweet & sour sauce. It’s really not that complicated to make but when you have a good quality pre made version in your fridge, why not use it, right?
So besides the garnish of sesame seeds and spring onions, and the oil for frying, this dish only contains 5 ingredients. It couldn’t be simpler.
I am happy to write a longer version for those who might want to make all the elements from scratch, so feel free to let me know. Please also note that although my flour and sauce came from a particular retailer, you can use any brand you wish as most large supermarkets stock them in their Asian food section.
Simple Sweet & Sour Pork
Ingredients
- 400 grams Pork fillet
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 400 grams Tempura flour
- Water
- 2 Litre Oil (Vegetable/Sunflower/Canola)
- Jasmine or long grain rice to serve
- 1 Lemon or lime to serve
- Sesame Seeds to garnish
- Spring/Green onions to garnish
Instructions
- Cut your pork fillet into bite sized cubes (around 2cm) if not pre-cut
- Season the pork with salt and pepper
- Prepare the tempura batter as per the package instructions (mine just indicate to add water)
- Next, decant the oil into a large pot and bring to medium heat
- Prepare your rice for cooking as per the package instructions and start cooking
- Place all your cubes of pork in the batter and mix until covered, then prepare a large plate with paper towel to drain the fried pork after cooking
- When the oil is hot, carefully, with a slotted spoon, place around 5 or six pieces of battered pork, one at a time into the hot oil (cook the pork in batches as overcrowding will not result in crunchy batter). Cook the pieces for around 3 – 5 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces, until lightly but evenly golden. You will want to flip each piece over around half way to ensure even cooking and browning (Make sure that the oil is not too hot as they will brown faster than the meat can cook, but also not too cold)
- When evenly cooked/browned, remove each piece with a slotted spoon and place on the paper towel to absorb excess oil, then repeat the process with the next batch
- The cooking time for all the pork should be around the same as for the rice
- Once the rice and pork are cooked, slice your lemon or lime into wedges and thinly slice your spring/green onions. Serve by sprinkling with sesame seeds and sliced spring/green onions. Then drizzle over as much sauce as you like and add a squeeze of lemon or lime just before eating*
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