Takeout Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork, hacked
Order sweet and sour pork at my local Chinese takeout place, and you’ll get a product that looks like the picture at the bottom of this post: individual pieces of pork battered and fried, with a tub of fluorescent sweet and sour sauce to dip them in or pour over the top. You and I can do better by hacking our Sweet and Sour Pork recipe, but with a few shortcuts to get you the table faster.
Ingredients:
1 large takeout serving of battered and fried pork, about 1 qt
1 T oil for wok
1 T minced garlic
1 green bell pepper, cut into ¾ inch pieces
1 onion, peeled and cut into ¾ inch pieces
½ c canned pineapple chunks
For the sauce:
3 T water (or Xiaoxing cooking wine or dry sherry)
2 t cornstarch
¼ c additional water
3 T ketchup
1 T vinegar (use rice vinegar if you have it, otherwise cider or white vinegar)
¼ pineapple juice (from can of pineapple)
Additional sauce from takeout place (optional)
Chinese takeout sweet and sour, pre-hack
Method: mix 3 T water and cornstarch in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved, then add ¼ c water, ketchup, vinegar and pineapple juice and stir until blended. Heat the oil to medium and add garlic, pepper and onion to wok; cook while stirring till vegetables are softened but not limp. Add the pineapple chunks and pork then pour over sauce (include the sauce from the takeout place if you wish) and heat until sauce is thickened and all elements are evenly coated. Serve over rice.
