Sweet and sour pork comme au restaurant *

The Pawawaw is quite busy these days, hence the absence of posts, but fortunately for me he is still cooking.
I am writing down his recipe for the sweet and sour pork we had last Sunday because it was gorgeous (and I want to have it again).


Serves 4-5:

- about 800gr pork, in slices not too thick
- 1 onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 big carrot
- optional: other veggies like mange-tout beans
- 12 tablespoons ketchup
- 5 tablespoons sake or white wine
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 4-5 tablespoons malt vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 10 teaspoons sugar
- a few tablespoons of a 1:1 mix of flour and potato starch
- salt, pepper
- sesame oil/vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons potato starch




Peel the carrot, chop it into bite-size chunks, and boil in salted water until soft enough. Set aside.
If you decide to add other vegetables that take a long time to cook, give them a boil the same way.
Roughly chop the onion and the bell pepper.





In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by mixing ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, sake or wine, and sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix a few tablespoons flour/starch with a bit of salt and pepper.
Nicely coat each slice of pork with this mix.






Thoroughly heat up the wok pan, then add a few cm of sesame oil, or a mix of sesame oil and vegetable oil. The oil needs to be well heated.
Fry the slices of pork, about 4-5 at a time (takes about 3 minutes per round), and set them aside on a flat dish with absorbing paper (or on a grid where the fat can drop out).





When you are done with the meat remove the oil from the wok. Heat up the pan again, put a bit of fresh oil and saute' the onions and bell pepper (and additional veggies you might want) for a couple of minutes with salt and pepper. It needs to stay crunchy. Set aside on a dish with absorbing paper.

Remove the oil from the wok and add the ketchup mix, heat it up.
In a glass, dilute 2 teaspoons potato starch with about 30ml water, and stir it into the sauce to thicken it.
Now put back the meat, onions, peppers and carrots and give it a mix until everything is well coated with sauce.
Serve with rice, and enjoy.