Sweet and Sour Pork (photos)

The wife is on the Alabama coast with her friends this week and I have been pretty good diet wise. To celebrate that, I decided to do Sweet and Sour Pork. This should feed two, but I consumed all of it myself. So much for being faithful to my diet.

To make this dish you'll need:

Maybe a quarter pound of pork. I used two of those boneless chops shown that I tenderized
1 carrot
1/3 of a large green bell pepper
1 small onion
1/3 cup rice (basmati)
2 teaspoons finely minced ginger
A small can of chunk pineapple - juice and fruit



Cook the rice and set aside.

For the sweet and sour sauce, you'll need:

1/4 cup Pineapple juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Rice wine vinegar - start with a tablespoon less than this and adjust after tasting. I use the full 1/4 cup but you may want less.
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 pinches red cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Corn Starch



Add these ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.



Cook for a couple of minutes until the corn starch thickens. Taste and adjust if desired. Rice wine vinegar will take it toward sour and sugar will take it toward sweet. Red pepper for heat. I have never added salt to this sauce. This is enough for two servings. Set aside.



Tenderize pork and marinate in the fridge for an hour in some milk, an egg and black pepper.



Set up the veggies. I like my carrot cut pretty thin, the green peppers cut into 1-2 inch pieces, and the onion into manageable pieces. I leave the pineapple as it comes from the can.



When the pork has marinated, dredge it in AP flour and a little corn starch and fry in vegetable oil.





The final cooking goes really quick, so I make certain everything is ready before I start.



If I were not lazy I would have pulled out the wok, but it is fine to do this in a large skillet.

The onions go first into hot vegetable oil



Then the carrots followed by the peppers.



When the carrots begin to change color, I add the pork. You may notice I used a paper towel to take out most of the oil before adding the pork.



Then the chunked pineapple which is a sweet addition to the dish. You can leave it out if you like, but you need the juice to make the sauce.



Then the sauce.





And plate over the cooked rice.



Fork View? Sure:



Gone.



I'm going to need a few more of these, because MSU is playing Auburn and I have little faith in my team. I have seen good teams beat us and bad teams beat us.



Never fear. I have a full platoon of reinforcements with solders willing to take their position on the line for a fallen comrade.