Simple Sweet and Sour Pork – Piglet’s “Foodie Friday” recipe challenge

Stuck in a “culinary rut” one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to research and cook one new recipe each week; photograph the results, both successes and failures, and post to my blog.

On reflection I should have named myself “Squirrel” not Piglet as I hoard tins, jars and packets of this and that in my store cupboard “just in case”…

This recipe was prompted after “spring cleaning” said store cupboard, last week when I discovered three tins of pineapple among other dubious purchases. I do not even like tinned pineapple! Why did I buy three of them? Do you buy groceries and later think “Why did I buy these?”

I searched on the net and through my cookery books for recipes to utilise my stash of pineapple and found this simple recipe for Sweet and Sour Pork. It was delicious and certainly a hit with Mr Piglet!

Ingredients:
Rice
Pork loin sliced into strips
1 can of pineapple chunks
Oil
1/4 cup of brown sugar
salt to taste
3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Water
2 tbsp Cornflour/Cornstarch or other thickening agent
1 Onion (thinly sliced)
1 red pepper (sliced)
1 green pepper (sliced)
(Adjust the quantities of ingredients to number or portions required)

Method
Slice the pork into strips about one inch wide and three inches long. Lightly brown the pork in a pan containing a small quantity of oil over a medium heat. Drain off excess fat.
Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice. Add the pineapple juice, ¾ cup of water, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and salt to the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for about hour or until the meat is tender.

In a small frying pan add a little oil and cook onions and peppers to soften. Put to one side.

Combine the corn flour(cornstarch) and two tbsps of water and stir into a smooth paste then add a couple of spoonfuls of the hot mixture to the paste and continue to stir. Add to the pork mixture and stir continuously, to prevent “lumps” forming as the mixture thickens. Add onions, peppers and pineapple chunks and cook for a further ten minutes.

Serve with Rice

You may also like to try Yummy Carrot Cake” This was one of my first blog posts. I can still remember how nervous I felt when I pressed the “publish” button.
I have 2 tins of pineapple left any recipe suggestions please – sweet or savoury?