Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients

• 600g pork shoulder
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 80g cornflour
• 40g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1 small onion
• 200g fresh pineapple
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 5 tbsp rice vinegar
• 5 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce, for the sauce
• 100ml water
• 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 litre groundnut oil, for frying

Before you cook

• Cut the pork shoulder into 3cm cubes, keeping a little fat on each piece.
• Toss the pork with the light soy, Shaoxing wine and white pepper, and leave it for 20 minutes.
• Cut the peppers and onion into 3cm squares.
• Cut the pineapple into 3cm chunks.
• Whisk the egg into the marinated pork so every piece is slick.
• Mix the cornflour, plain flour and baking powder in a wide bowl.
• Stir the rice vinegar, sugar, ketchup, tablespoon of light soy and 100ml of water together in a jug.
• Mix the cornflour and cold water for the slurry.

Steps

1. Press each piece of pork into the flour mixture, pushing hard so a thick craggy coat sticks, then shake off the loose powder.
2. Heat the groundnut oil in a deep pan to 170C, testing with a pinch of flour that should sizzle steadily.
3. Lower half the pork in and fry for 5 minutes, until pale gold and cooked through.
4. Lift the pork onto a rack and fry the second batch the same way.
5. Raise the oil to 190C.
6. Return all the pork to the oil for 90 seconds, until the crust is deep gold and hard to the touch.
7. Drain the pork on the rack and keep it somewhere warm.
8. Pour all but 2 tablespoons of oil out of a wok, or use a clean wok with 2 tablespoons of fresh oil, and set it over high heat.
9. Stir-fry the garlic, onion and peppers for 90 seconds, so they soften at the edges but stay crunchy.
10. Add the pineapple and toss for 30 seconds.
11. Pour in the vinegar mixture and bring it to a hard boil.
12. Stir the slurry and add it in a thin stream, stirring until the sauce turns clear and thick enough to coat a spoon.
13. Tip in the fried pork and toss for 20 seconds only, then serve straight away before the crust softens.