SWEET & SOUR PORK
This is my take on the Chinese takeaway classic. Using sausagemeat here adds fantastic flavour, and the sauce is such a great balance of flavours. Skeptics, please at least try it with the pineapple, as it really does elevate this dish, otherwise feel free to leave it out.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

FOR THE PORK

400g pork sausagemeat

1 egg

75g breadcrumbs

FOR THE VEGETABLES

Vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 bunch of spring onions, finely sliced

1 red pepper, cut into chunks

230g tin pineapple chunks in juice (if the pineapple is in rings, cut these into chunks, and be sure to reserve the juice for the sauce)

100g baby corn, sliced lengthways

100g mangetout, trimmed

FOR THE SAUCE

120ml chicken stock

2tbsp sugar

2tbsp tomato puree

1tbsp light soy sauce

1tbsp dark soy sauce

1tbsp Chinese rice wine

Pinch of chilli flakes

TO FINISH

1tbsp cornflour

1tbsp water

Handful of salted peanuts, lightly crushed

METHOD

1

In a large bowl, combine the sausagemeat with the egg and breadcrumbs. The easiest way to do this is with clean hands. Pinch off teaspoon-sized pieces of the mix, roll into balls and set aside.

2

Heat some oil in a large frying pan set over medium-high heat. Once hot, fry the pork balls until browned all over; I recommend doing this in 2 batches. They needn't be fully cooked just yet, you just want them to get some colour. Set aside onto a plate.

3

If necessary, add some more oil to the pan. Fry the garlic, ginger, spring onion and red pepper for a minute until fragrant. Add the pineapple chunks and juice, chicken stock, sugar, tomato puree, soy sauces, Chinese rice wine and chilli flakes. Return the pork balls to the pan, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, adding the mangetout and baby corn halfway through cooking.

4

In a small bowl, dissolve the 1tbsp of cornflour in 1tbsp water. Add to the pan, and cook for a minute or two, until the sauce is nicely thickened. Then, you are ready to serve!

Serving Suggestion

I like to serve this dish with some white rice.

icheffedit Tip

Sausagemeat is usually easy to find in the meat section at the supermarket, but if you can't find any, you could purchase some regular sausages, snip off their skins and use the meat from there.