Chinese pork in sweet and sour sauce - 7 step-by-step recipes

This dish is found in almost every Asian restaurant, but few realize how easy it is to prepare, and specific ingredients like rice vinegar are successfully replaced with more familiar ones without compromising the final taste of the dish.

Chinese style sweet and sour pork in a pan (gabadjou)

A traditional Chinese dish that will perfectly diversify your usual diet or decorate a festive table. The meat turns out to be juicy, crispy and very unusual in taste.

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Servings - 4

• 
  Rinse the meat under running water, cut off all fat layers if possible and cut into medium-sized pieces.
• 
  Transfer the meat to a deep bowl, salt, mix thoroughly to distribute the salt over the pork, and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
• 
  Add starch and water to the marinated meat and stir.
• 
  Preheat a skillet with enough vegetable oil. It should partially cover the meat, creating a deep-frying effect. Roast the pork piece by piece.
• 
  Fry the meat until a light golden crust appears.
• 
  Drain the used oil from the pan, add sugar, tomato paste and water.
• 
  Dilute two teaspoons of starch with water and stir until smooth.
• 
  Boil the tomato mixture over low heat for a few minutes, then pour in the vinegar essence, stir and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes. Pour in the diluted starch and a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, stir and continue to cook the sauce until thickened.
• 
  Add meat to the thickened sauce, heat in a pan for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly, and add sesame oil. Serve this pork with a neutral side dish such as rice.

Bon Appetit!

Pork in sweet and sour sauce with pineapple

Pineapples in this dish will go well with both the sauce and the pork itself. The recipe will appeal to those who like unusual combinations, such as meatballs with lingonberry sauce.

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Servings - 3-4

Ingredients:

• Pork - 500 gr.
• Canned pineapples - 150 gr.
• Bulgarian pepper - 1-2 pcs.
• Potato starch - 1 tablespoon
• Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons
• Ground ginger - 1 tsp
• Garlic - 1-2 teeth.
• Vegetable oil - 3-4 tablespoons
• Salt to taste;
• Ground black pepper - to taste;

For the sauce:

• Vinegar 6% - 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons
• Ketchup - 2 tablespoons
• Granulated sugar - 1 tablespoon

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat under running water and cut into small square pieces. Place in a deep bowl, add salt, starch and ground ginger. Pour in the soy sauce, mix thoroughly and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
2. Press the garlic cloves with a garlic press or finely chop them with a knife. Peel the bell peppers and cut into square cubes.
3. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, and vinegar. Stir until smooth.
4. In a skillet with a thick bottom, heat some vegetable oil, add the pieces of pork and fry over medium heat until golden brown. Fry the meat in parts, because otherwise it will exude too much liquid and will be stewed, not fried.
5. Put the fried pork in a separate bowl, and in the same pan fry the garlic and bell pepper for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
6. Return the pork to the pan and top with the pre-prepared sauce.
7. Cut pineapples into small pieces and add to the dish. Pour 100 milliliters of boiling water into the pan, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. Season the finished dish with salt and pepper if necessary. This pork goes well with a neutral side dish like rice.

Bon Appetit!

Juicy pork in sweet and sour sauce with vegetables

Sweet and sour vegetables can serve as an independent dish, but the combination with pork gives it a real Asian flavor.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings - 5

Ingredients:

• Pork - 700 gr.
• Carrots - 1 pc.
• Sweet pepper - 2 pcs.
• Zucchini - ½ pc.
• Garlic - 2 teeth
• Soy sauce - 4 tablespoons
• Granulated sugar - 3 tablespoons
• Water - 8 tablespoons
• Vinegar 9% - 2 tablespoons
• Potato starch - 2 tablespoons
• Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
• Ginger root - 5 gr.
• Hot pepper - 1 pc.
• Salt to taste;

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat beforehand and, if necessary, cut off the fat layers. Cut it across the grain into thin plates about 3-4 millimeters thick, then divide it across into smaller pieces.
2. In a deep bowl, combine half the soy sauce and finely chopped or crushed garlic, add the meat, stir and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Rinse the bell peppers, clean out all the seeds and cut into squares about 2 by 2 centimeters.
4. Without peeling off the skin, cut the zucchini into quarters.
5. Cut the carrots and hot peppers into thin circles, and the ginger into strips. To make the pepper less spicy to the dish, first clean the seeds from it.
6. For sweet and sour sauce, combine sugar, water, vinegar, and soy sauce in a separate bowl. Stir everything until the sugar is completely dissolved. Dissolve the starch with a little water to avoid lumps and add to the sauce. Stir as well.
7. Heat a skillet with vegetable oil and fry the carrots in it until golden brown.
8. Then add the rest of the vegetables to the skillet and fry until soft, stirring regularly. At this stage, they can be slightly salted.
9. Transfer the prepared vegetables to a separate container for now, and put the pork in the pan. Fry it for a few minutes until golden brown. They ate a lot of meat, it is better to fry in several approaches, because otherwise a lot of juice will stand out and pork will be stewed in it. Therefore, it is better to divide the entire volume of pork into about three parts, fry them one by one, and put the finished meat in a bowl with vegetables.
10. When the pork is done, return the vegetables to the skillet and sauté everything together for another 5 minutes.
11. Then pour the prepared sauce into the pan and stir it actively with meat and vegetables. As soon as it begins to thicken noticeably, remove the pan from the heat while continuing to stir the contents. If the sauce is too thick for you, dilute it with a little hot water.

Bon Appetit!

How to cook pork in sweet and sour sauce with starch?

Starch acts as a thickener, thanks to which the sauce will envelop the meat. If you do not add it, it will take much longer to evaporate the sauce to the desired consistency, which increases the risk of sugar burning. It can also be used as a soft breading.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings - 6-8

Ingredients:

• Pork - 1 kg.
• Carrots - 1 pc.
• Egg - 1 pc.
• Potato starch - 2 tablespoons
• Rice vinegar - 1 tablespoon
• Soy sauce - 1 tablespoon
• Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs.
• Green onions - 1 bunch;
• Vegetable oil - 200 ml.

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce - 2 tablespoons
• Rice vinegar - 2 tablespoons
• Granulated sugar - 1 tablespoon
• Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon
• Potato starch - 1 tsp
• Chicken broth - 170 ml.

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the pork, cut off the fat layers, if any, or choose lean parts for the dish. Cut the meat into cubes. In a deep bowl, combine the vinegar, soy sauce and salt, add the pork to the mixture, stir and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, prepare the vegetables. Cut the carrots into small cubes and blanch in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Chop the onion feathers, and cut the bell pepper into small squares, having previously peeled off the seeds.
3. In a small bowl, beat the egg and starch and add to the meat. Stir until the mixture covers the pork completely.
4. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet. The degree of heating can be checked with a wooden spatula: when immersed, small bubbles should come from it. Fry the meat until golden brown on both sides, placing them in small portions in the pan.
5. For the sauce, combine all the ingredients except the starch and pour into another skillet. Stir constantly, bring to a boil, add vegetables, stir and simmer covered for a few minutes. Meanwhile, mix the starch in a glass with two tablespoons of water and add to the vegetables. Stir vigorously and simmer for a couple more minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.
6. Remove the pan from heat, add the meat to the vegetables and stir thoroughly so that the sauce completely covers the meat.

Bon Appetit!

Step-by-step recipe for cooking pork with rice in sweet and sour sauce

Rice perfectly complements this kind of dishes, both by itself, since it has a neutral taste, and with a dressing of rice vinegar, salt and sugar. So the dish acquires even more in common with Asian cuisine.

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings - 4

Ingredients:

• Pork - 500 gr.
• Long grain rice - 400 gr.
• Bulgarian pepper - 2 pcs.
• Cucumber - 1 pc.
• Canned pineapples - 250 gr.
• Garlic - 3-4 teeth.
• Tomato paste - 2 tablespoons
• Meat broth - 100 gr.
• Soy sauce - 1 tablespoon
• Oyster sauce - 5 tablespoons
• Starch - 50 gr.
• Egg - 1 pc.
• Vegetable oil - 500 ml.
• Granulated sugar - 2 tablespoons

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the rice in cool water several times until it stops cloudy. Cook until cooked according to package directions. It is recommended to take the proportions of rice and water 1: 2.
2. Rinse the bell peppers, remove seeds and partitions and cut into medium-sized cubes or sticks. Slice the cucumber as well. Peel the onion and chop it in half rings, and cut the garlic clove in half.
3. For sweet and sour sauce, combine tomato paste with soy sauce, add broth, salt and sugar. Stir everything until the sugar is dissolved in the liquid.
4. Heat a skillet with a little vegetable oil and fry the vegetables in it for a few minutes until soft. Reduce heat, add prepared sauce, stir and leave to simmer under the lid for 10 minutes.
5. Cut canned pineapple into small pieces, if it was originally in rings, and add to vegetables. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Rinse the pork, cut off the layers of fat and cut into small pieces.
7. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the starch; if necessary, dilute with a little cool water if the mixture is thick.
8. Pour the resulting mixture over the pork and stir until the meat is completely covered with it.
9. Heat vegetable oil in another skillet. When, when a wooden skewer or spatula is immersed in it, small bubbles begin to actively form, this means that the oil has heated up to the desired temperature. Deep-fry the pork on both sides until golden brown. Do not fry everything at once, but divide it into small portions, otherwise the oil will boil too much.
10. Put the cooked pork with the vegetables and stir until it is completely covered with the sauce.You can put rice and pork with vegetables separately on a plate, or you can put rice under them so that it also gets saturated with sauce, then act at your discretion.

Bon Appetit!

Pork with Udon noodles in sweet and sour sauce

Udon noodles are traditional Asian noodles, which contain, among other things, salt and mineral water, which gives it a special taste and makes an excellent addition to any oriental cuisine.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings - 6

Ingredients:

• Pork - 700 gr.
• Udon noodles - 700 gr.
• Carrots - 1 pc.
• Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc.
• Zucchini - 1 pc.
• Eggplant - 1 pc.
• Garlic - 3 teeth.
• Ginger - 30 gr.
• Vegetable oil - for frying;

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce - 4 tablespoons
• Apple cider vinegar - 2 tablespoons
• Honey - 3 tablespoons
• Chili powder - ¼ tsp
• Corn starch - 2 tsp
• Ketchup - 3 tablespoons

Cooking process:

1. Remove fat layers, if any, from pre-washed pork and cut into thin slices. Heat a skillet over high heat with a little vegetable oil and fry the pork in parts until golden brown. If you fry all the meat in one go, too much juice will come out and it will simply be stewed.
2. Prepare your vegetables. Cut the carrots into cubes, chop the peppers into thick strips, and the eggplant and zucchini into thin half rings. Drain the excess oil from the pan in which the pork was fried, and fry the carrots for 1 minute, stirring regularly.
3. Then add the rest of the vegetables, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few more minutes, until tender.
4. In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients until smooth.
5. Cook the noodles in a separate saucepan according to the instructions.
6. Pour the prepared sauce into a pan with vegetables and add pork. Stir vigorously until the sauce begins to thicken. Then remove the dishes from the heat and, while stirring, add the noodles to the dish. If the sauce looks too thick for you, dilute it with hot water.

Bon Appetit!

Delicious pork in Chinese-style sauce with bell pepper

Sweet bell peppers are a very characteristic element of Asian dishes. It goes well with sauce and pork and gives the dish freshness and juiciness.

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Servings - 4

Ingredients:

• Pork - 500 gr.
• Bulgarian pepper - 150 gr.
• Canned pineapples - 150 gr.
• Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons
• Corn starch - 1 tablespoon
• Garlic - 2-3 teeth.
• Vegetable oil - for frying;

For the sauce:

• Soy sauce - 3 tablespoons
• Ketchup - 2 tablespoons
• Apple cider vinegar - 1 tablespoon
• Granulated sugar - 1 tablespoon
• Salt to taste;

Cooking process:

1. Rinse the meat under running water, cut off the fat, if any, and cut into small thin slices.
2. In a small bowl, combine the starch and soy sauce, add a little salt if necessary. Place the chopped pork in a bowl, stir to completely cover the pieces of meat, and leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
3. Remove the bell peppers from the stalk, cut in half, peel the seeds and cut the pulp into small cubes. Pass the garlic through a garlic press or finely chop with a knife.
4. In a small container, combine all the ingredients for the sauce. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
5. Heat a frying pan with vegetable oil and fry the pork in it until golden brown for 2-3 minutes on each side. Fry the meat in portions so that a large amount of juice does not come out at a time, in which it begins to stew.
6. Set aside the meat in a separate container, and put the pepper and garlic in the pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.
7. When the pepper is tender, return the meat to the pan and add the prepared sauce. Stir well so that the liquid envelops all the ingredients, and simmer over medium heat, covered, for a few minutes.
8. Cut pineapples into small pieces, if they were originally rings in the jar, and add to the dish as well. You can add some hot pepper for piquancy. Stir vigorously.
9. Pour half a glass of boiling water into the pan, a little more if your sauce began to thicken too actively, and stir. Cover the mixture with a lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes, adding boiling water if necessary.
10. Salt the cooked pork with vegetables if necessary and serve with a neutral side dish such as rice or noodles.

Bon Appetit!