Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork

I tried a lot of recipes for the batter to use for the dish Sweet and Sour and let me tell you, there are a lot of recipes that doesn't hold up to the sauce. What you'll usually end up with is a soggy mess with the batter falling off the viand. The good news is, I found a batter recipe that stays put. It is a lot of work so if you don't like a recipe with a lot of steps, my advice is to order out from the Chinese restaurant down the road. The batter is deep fried twice for extra crispiness. (I know, some of you will cringe but hey, you're only supposed to have this dish once in a while, not every week.) In lieu of pork, you can substitute chicken, shrimps or fish. If you are diabetic, you can substitute splenda (just add it at the end of the cooking steps for the sauce.)

SWEET AND SOUR SHRIMPS

1/2 cup carrots, sliced

1 small bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup pineapple chunks, drained

1/2 cup all prupose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp beaten egg mixed with enough water to make 1/2 cup

1 tsp cooking oil

1/2 lb pork, cut into 1-inch or smaller cubes

1 tsp dry sherry or cooking wine

1/4 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

Sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup catsup

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup water

1/2 cup cider vinegar

3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water

cooking oil for deep frying

- Parboil carrots in boiling water for 1 minute. Add the bell peppers. When it comes back to boil, drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.

- Add the pineapple to the veggies and set aside.

- Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, egg mixture and oil in a bowl. Mix until well-blended. The batter will be like a thick paste. Set aside.

- Mix the pork, sherry, salt and pepper. Set aside.

- In a deep pan, heat oil to a temperature of 375F to 400F. This is very important so the batter will not soak up too much oil.

- Dip the marinated pork into the batter and coat completely.

- Carefully drop the battered pork into the oil, a piece at a time.

- Fry until golden brown.

- Remove the browned pork and dry on paper towels and let cool.

- Mix the sugar, catsup, soysauce, salt and water in a saucepan.

- Bring to a boil and add the vinegar. Do not stir. Let boil for 10 minutes.

- Stir in the cornstarch/water solution. Cook until the sauce thickens.

- Add the vegetables and pineapples to the sauce. Add 1 tsp. of hot oil from the deep-fry pan to give the sauce a shine.

- While preparing the sauce, reheat the oil to 400F for the second frying.

- Add the cooked pork and fry until the pieces are heated and crisped.

- Drain on paper towels.

- Serve with the sweet and sour sauce poured on top.

TIPS:

- You can make the pork in advance. After the first frying, you can keep in the refrigerator or in the freezer for a few days. Thaw first before frying for the second time.

- The oil can be re-used if kept in the refrigerator.