Sweet and Sour Pork
糖醋里脊
Crispy battered pork tenderloin strips coated in glossy sweet and sour sauce with perfect tangy-sweet balance. Popular Chinese dish featuring golden, crunchy exterior and tender interior in vibrant, appetite-appealing sauce.
Servings
2-3 people
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Spice Level
Not Spicy
Ingredients
Instructions
Cut the pork tenderloin into strips about 1cm thick, wash clean and put in a bowl.
First add salt, pepper powder, cooking wine and mix well, marinate for 10 minutes to absorb flavor.
Beat in 1 egg, add starch, flour (optional), 1 tablespoon cooking oil, mix well until sticky, then wait 10 minutes before frying.
Don't make it too thick or too thin.
When oil temperature is 50-60% hot, add the meat strips to fry, after adding all, fry slowly on medium-low heat.
When adding meat strips, add them one by one to prevent sticking together, if there's a lot of meat you can fry in two batches.
Fry until the surface is golden brown and crispy, then remove and drain oil and set aside.
If you want to make it more crispy outside and tender inside, you can fry once then fry again, first fry until surface is slightly golden brown and remove, wait for oil temperature to rise then fry again for 20-30 seconds until surface is golden brown.
Add a little base oil to the pan, add tomato paste, white vinegar, white sugar, a little salt, then add 1 large tablespoon of water starch, turn to medium heat and stir-fry until bubbling, until it becomes relatively thick.
Water: starch = 2:1.
Pour in the fried meat strips, continuously stir-fry quickly, coat evenly with sauce, then serve. Sprinkle with white sesame.
- The key to making crispy outside and tender inside is both marinating the pork strips and the frying process. When marinating, the batter should not be too thick or too thin; too thick affects the texture, too thin makes the meat tough after frying.
- When frying the pork strips, let the batter set before turning them. Use medium-low heat, usually 4-5 minutes is enough. For better taste, you can double-fry.
- To test if the oil is at 50-60% heat, insert a chopstick and if many small bubbles appear, the temperature is right.
- The sauce can also be prepared in advance. Tomato sauce: water: white sugar: white vinegar in a ratio of 4:3:2:2.
- When making the sweet and sour sauce, add starch slurry, as vinegar will prevent the white sugar from being too sweet, and white sugar will make the white vinegar more appetizing.
- When coating the pork strips with the sauce at the end, act quickly. Stir-fry rapidly to coat the pork strips evenly, then serve immediately.