Sweet and Sour Pork 咕嚕肉: Chef Sin Leong’s Recipe

I love sweet and sour pork. In fact, I think it is probably one of the top 3 most popular dishes amongst Singaporeans. Every economical rice stall will have this dish in one of their trays and you should be able to order it at every Cze Char stall.

The great thing about this dish is that you can easily make it at home. You don’t require a super hot wok to make it as you would Hor Fun. This is one of the dishes that we have at home at least twice a month. The great thing about making this yourself is that you can actually taste the pork which will be juicy and bouncy encased by a crisp shell, Most of the time when you have this outside, its like just eating sweet and sour batter!

Today, I am sharing Chef Sin Leong’s (4 Heavenly King’s) recipe. This recipe is taken from his recipe book which was published in 1984 and it is excellent.

Ingredients

A. Pork
500g Pork Collar
1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp MSG
1 Tbsp water
2 eggs
3 Tbsp custard powder (can substitute with cornflour)

B1. Sweet and Sour ingredients
2 Tomatoes
1 Red chilli (de-seeded)
1 Cucumber
80g Pineapple
3 Stalks spring onions

B2. Cucumber Marinade
1 Tbsp White vinegar
2 Tbsp Water
1/2 Tbsp sugar

B3. Sweet and Sour Sauce
8 Tbl water
1 1/2 Tbsp White vinegar
2 1/2 Tbsp Tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp chili sauce
1/2 tsp Maggie seasoning sauce
4 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp MSG
2 tsp light soya sauce
1/2 tsp Sesame sauce
1 Tbsp Custard powder

Preparation

1. Cut pork into bite-sized cubes (8g). Add the rest of the ingredients in A except custard powder and mix thoroughly. Add custard powder and mix. Marinade for 1 hour.

2. Cut cucumber lengthwise into 3 portions and remove the core. Then cut into thin strips and marinate with ingredients from B2 for 3 hours. Drain before frying.

3. Deep fry the pork in 170°C oil. Make sure to fry in small batches so that the oil temperature does not drop. Fry for approx 3 mins or until crispy and slightly brown. Place on a rack or absorbent paper to drain off the oil.

4. To make the sauce, dissolve custard powder in water and then add it to the rest of the ingredients in B3.

5. Heat wok then lower heat and add 1 Tbsp oil. Add ingredients in B1 and stir fry for 1 min. Add the sauce from step 4 and bring to boil and simmer to thicken. Add deep-fried pork, turn off the heat and toss to mix thoroughly, and serve.

Hope you enjoyed cooking this Sweet and Sour Pork 咕嚕肉: Chef Sin Leong’s Recipe!

Here is my updated sweet and sour pork recipe video:

Check out my other versions of Sweet and Sour Pork:
Sweet and Sour Pork Version II
Sweet and Sour Pork Version III

Check out my other pork recipes:
Hakka Zhar Yoke
Japanese Cha Shu
Sio Bak
Teriyaki Pork Belly
Jing Du Pai Gu
Char Siu
Tau Yew Bak
Dong Po Rou

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