Hairy Bikers Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe

No ketchup, no deep-frying, no heavy batter. This Hairy Bikers sweet and sour pork recipe from Meat Feasts takes a different path, using marinated fillet strips and a dark soy sauce with pineapple juice at 265 calories per serving and 55 minutes including the marinade.

The trick that makes it work is the ginger juice marinade, where you grate fresh root ginger and squeeze it through a sieve so only the pure liquid goes onto the meat. Si and Dave say they love this version “with not a dollop of ketchup in sight,” and that 30 minute soak is the reason why.

Once the pork comes out of the marinade the whole dish takes under 10 minutes in the wok. The sauce reduces to a sticky, syrupy glaze that clings to every strip, so you end up with something closer to a restaurant finish than a typical Friday night stir-fry.

Hairy Bikers Sweet and Sour Pork Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Stir Frying Cuisine:British Chinese Courses:Main Course

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time: 10 minutesRest time: 30 minutesTotal time: 55 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:265 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Pork fillet strips tossed in cornflour and stir-fried until browned, then finished in a tangy sauce that reduces to a glossy, syrupy coat. The 30 minute marinade does the heavy lifting, so the wok time is under 10 minutes.

Ingredients

For the Marinade:

• 15g fresh root ginger
• 1 tbsp rice wine (mirin or Shaoxing)
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil

For the Sauce:

• 250ml pineapple juice
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
• 2 tsp soft light brown sugar
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp sesame oil

For the Pork and Vegetables:

• 500g lean pork fillet, cut into strips
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 large red pepper, deseeded and cut into strips
• 15g fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced or shredded

Instructions

1. Marinate the pork: Put the pork strips in a bowl and season with half a teaspoon of salt. Grate the 15g of ginger for the marinade into a small bowl, then squeeze it through a sieve so you collect only the juice. Mix the ginger juice with the rice wine, light soy sauce, and sesame oil, then pour over the pork and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Make the sauce: Whisk the pineapple juice, dark soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, white pepper, and sesame oil together in a bowl, then set aside.
3. Stir-fry the vegetables and pork: Heat the groundnut oil in a wok on high heat until it starts to shimmer, then add the red pepper strips and ginger matchsticks and fry for 1 minute. Drain the pork, toss the strips in cornflour, and add them to the wok, then stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes until well browned on all sides.
4. Finish in the sauce: Pour the sauce over the pork and cook until it has reduced to a fairly syrupy consistency, which takes about 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with rice and garnish with sesame seeds and spring onions.

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FAQs

What is the Hong Kong style sweet and sour pork?

Si and Dave published a completely different version called Grandma Lulu Style in the Asian Adventure cookbook, where spare ribs are deep-fried in an egg and cornflour batter, then tossed with ketchup, 4 to 6 tablespoons of sugar, and fresh pineapple chunks. That is roughly ten times more sugar than this Meat Feasts version, which uses just 2 teaspoons.

The Mums Know Best cookbook also has a Hong Kong style version with a similar deep-frying method. If you want the ketchup-based sauce, the sweet and sour chicken from Chicken and Egg is a middle ground that uses ketchup but skips the deep-frying.

Can I use pork shoulder instead of fillet?

Si and Dave actually suggest this in their Asian Adventure headnote, where they say to try pork shoulder “diced into 1cm cubes, for a meatier dish.” Shoulder has more fat running through it, so it stays juicier but takes longer to cook through in the wok.

For this Meat Feasts stir-fry version, fillet is the better choice because it cooks in 2 to 3 minutes and stays tender from the marinade. Shoulder works better for the deep-fried Hong Kong version, since the batter protects it during the longer frying time.

Why does the marinade use ginger juice instead of grated ginger?

The juice penetrates the meat more evenly than grated pieces would, because there are no fibrous bits sitting on the surface. Grated ginger in a hot wok can also burn in seconds and turn bitter, which is why Si and Dave strain it out before the pork goes anywhere near the heat.

The recipe still uses fresh ginger in the stir-fry, but cut into matchsticks rather than grated. Those matchstick pieces fry quickly and add a visible crunch to the finished dish, so you get ginger in two different forms doing two different jobs.

Is there a slow cooker version of this?

No slow cooker version exists in any Hairy Bikers cookbook, and for good reason. Stir-frying at high heat is what gives the pork strips their browned edges and the sauce its syrupy glaze, and neither of those happens in a slow cooker.

The marinade does the tenderising here, so the pork does not need hours of slow cooking to be soft. If you want another quick fakeaway that comes together fast after prep, the chilli salad bowls follow the same pattern of front-loaded prep and short cooking time.

What should I serve with this?

Plain steamed rice is all you need because the sauce reduces down to a sticky glaze that coats the pork and peppers. Adding noodles or fried rice would compete with the sesame and soy flavours instead of letting them shine.

If you want to build a bigger spread, the lamb rogan josh works well alongside because its yoghurt-based sauce contrasts with the tangy pineapple. Or try the lamb biryani for a rice dish that can hold its own next to bold flavours without clashing.