Authentic Sweet Sour Pork Recipe By Chef Benson Tong 古老肉

For our next professional series recipe, we have famed TV Chef Benson Tong showing us how to make an authentic sweet sour pork. No ketchup is used, and dried hawthorn berries (not haw flakes) are used to make citrusy sauce.

Begin by making boiling 300gm pineapple, 1 chopped large tomato, 1 chopped large carrot, 1 chopped large red onion, 2 coriander root, 100gm dried hawthon berries in 3 litres of water. Once it is boiling, lower the heat to simmer for 1 hour.

In the meantime, use the back of a chopped to tenderise 200g of pork shoulder (wuhua rou). After which, cut into small cubes as seen in the video. 

Marinate the pork with 2 tsp light soya sauce, Sarawak white pepper, 2 tsp rice wine or Chinese wine or moutai and 1 tsp sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

After 1 hour, the pot liquid will have reduced by half. Strain the mixture and set aside the strained liquid.

In a wok with some oil, add 150g tomato paste. Cook until you can see a bright coloured red oil at the sides. Then add the strained liquid. Add 200g plum sauce, 100ml white vinegar and 150g block sugar. Cook until the sugar has fully dissolved. Set aside as this will be the base sauce.

In another wok, add enough palm oil for deep frying. Coat the marinated pork with potato starch thoroughly. When the oil is hot enough, deep fry the pork for a few minutes until they turn golden brown. 

Remove and strain the pork of excess oil. Set aside, they will go through a second round of deep frying to cook out more oil and achieve a better level of crispness.

In a fresh wok with some oil, add 1/2 chopped cucumber, 1 chopped tomato, 1 chopped onion and 100gm chopped pineapple. Stir fry for a few minutes. 

Add 2 ladles of the base sauce and stir well to mix. Add a corn starch slurry to thicken up the sauce. Let the sauce simmer on low heat.

In the same wok used for deep frying earlier, deep fry the pork again for a few minutes. A tip here is when the big boiling bubbles are much smaller, is the time to remove the pork from deep frying.

Another tip for deep frying is when the oil is hot enough for deep frying, lower the heat just before adding your pork to prevent from the meat burning in the outside and allowing the meat to cook properly inside.

Transfer the twice fried pork straight into the wok. Add 1 stalk of chopped scallion and 1 stalk of chopped coriander. Give one final toss and mix and it is done. 

This is best served in a claypot. This authentic sweet sour pork will have a balance of sweet, savoury and a citrusy tang. The pork will be crispy yet moist and chewy on the inside. 

Try this old school way of making this popular dish.

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