Something about Chinese food and its aroma always makes me hungry all of the sudden. While I enjoy dining at my favorite Chinese restaurants, it’s also fun to cook Chinese food at home. After breathing in delicious aroma from a restaurant I walked by, I decided to make one of my family’s favorite Chinese dishes; sweet & sour pork and fried rice.
Tableware
I looked through my cupboard and decided on this serving platter and footed bowl. These are Japanese Arita porcelain (有田焼), famous in the Shikoku area of Japan. Traditionally these porcelain pieces are blue and white, or with red and gold decorations but I know in recent years, to appeal to younger consumers, many Arita porcelain manufacturers have created sleek modern pieces with even pastel colors to fit in modern dining room setting. My two pieces are more traditional, with distinct blue and white patterns and even after all these years, I think they are timeless and beautiful.
Sweet & Sour Pork
My version of sweet and sour pork consists of veggies and pork tenderloin meatballs that are pan fried instead of being deep fried with home made sweet and sour sauce. I’m not opposed to fried foods, but I like to have alternative cooking methods; lighter, less heavy on the stomach options. I feel the same way about sweet and sour sauce. Most sweet and sour sauce can be pretty heavy, with lot of sugar and starch but you can easily make less sugary sauce using fresh tomatoes and just a small amount of sugar and corn starch.
Sweet & Sour Sauce
Start off with with sauce first that way your sauce has chance to thicken and flavors can develop. Natural acidity from tomatoes and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar will create just the right amount of sour flavor, which will then be balanced by 2 tablespoons of sugar. To add depth to the sauce, I also add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and in the end add corn starch and water. As your sweet and sour sauce simmers, juice from the tomatoes will reduce and corn starch will add enough thickness to coat meat and vegetables.
Pork Tenderloin Meatballs
Some people may think slicing pork tenderloin to make meatballs seems like an unnecessary effort, but honestly, this tastes better than ground pork or simply grilling pork pieces in a pan. This step is worth the effort. By slicing the pork tenderloin, and forming them into a ball, you’re going to have soft thin layered pork pieces, that’s going to absorb all the juices from the meat and sauce. Also adding just 3 teaspoons of corn starch to the sliced meat will prevent your meatballs from hardening. Once your sliced tenderloin is formed into small balls, pan fry them using 1/4 cup of olive oil until they are nice and brown.
Stir Frying Veggies
The only other thing left to do is to stir fry chopped onions and bell peppers. I used green bell peppers to add contrasting color but you can use red, yellow or orange bell peppers. Using the same pan or skillet that you cooked your meatballs, stir fry each vegetable for about 2-3 minutes. Make sure you don’t overcook them; you want to have some crispy texture from onions and peppers against tender meatballs.
When your veggies are ready, add back meatballs to the skillet and stir in the sweet & sour sauce and coat all the ingredients with the sauce. Serve it in a large platter and prepared to dig in.
Simple Fried Rice
Meal like this is not complete unless you have fried rice. There are so many versions of fried rice, but I like to keep ingredients simple with fried eggs and chopped long onions. I’m also using organic brown rice because I prefer less starch in my rice dishes but if brown rice isn’t for you, you can certainty use regular white rice.
Key to good fried rice is not to use freshly cooked rice and to fry your rice in the pan using high heat. I usually use day old rice that’s been chilled in my fridge. Freshly cooked rice, will make your fried rice too soft due to the moisture content and when you add other ingredients, it will make your fried rice mushy and starchy. Using high heat is also important so your rice does not end up sticking to the bottom of your pan and your fried rice does not end up with oily texture.
Eating fried rice like this with saucy, rich sweet and sour pork is so satisfying, I’m usually left satisfied for days.
Sweet & Sour Pork Meatballs
Ingredients
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 3 med large tomatoes chopped in 1 inch cubes.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp water
For Pork Meatballs
- 1 pork tenderloin
- 1½ tsp salt
- 3 tsp corn starch
- ¼ cup olive oil
For Vegetables
- 2 medium bell peppers (green, red, yellow or orange), chopped in 1½ inch squares
- 1 medium white onion, chopped in 1½ inch squares
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- Heat medium sized pot over medium heat and add olive oil. When olive oil starts to sizzle, add chopped tomatoes and sauté until it becomes soft. Add ingredients 3 thru 6 and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add in corn starch and water. Let it simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Turn off heat once sauce thickens.
Pork Meatballs and Vegetables
- Thinly slice pork tenderloin and season with salt. Add cornstarch to the meat, mix well and form sliced pork into 1½ inch balls.
- Heat large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Place meatballs in the skillet and pan fry for 20 minutes or until brown. When done, take meatballs out of the skillet and set it aside.
- Using the same skillet meatballs were cooked in, add olive oil and keep the heat on medium. Add bell peppers in the skillet first and stir fry for 3 minutes, then add white onions and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle salt over vegetables.
- When vegetables become soft, add back pork meatballs and stir in sweet & sour sauce. Coat pork and vegetables with sauce and transfer to serving platter.
Simple Fried Rice
Ingredients
Fried Eggs
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Fried Rice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1½ cups previously cooked brown rice, chilled
- 4 long onions, chopped
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tsp fresh garlic, minced
- scrambled eggs
- 1½ tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat small frying pan over medium heat. Once the pan is heated, add olive oil and make scrambled eggs. Transfer to a plate when done and set it aside.
- Heat skillet over medium heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Once the olive oil starts to sizzle, add long onions, garlic, ginger and sauté vegetables, be careful not to burn garlic or ginger. Once vegetables are soft, add brown rice and combine with scallions.
- When rice and scallions have been well combined, add oyster sauce and stir fry rice mixture over high heat. Fold in scrambled eggs into the rice, add soy sauce and stir to let soy sauce coat the fried rice. Transfer to serving bowl.