Crispy Sweet & Sour Pork

• 300g pork tenderloin, sliced into 2-3mm thick slices
• ½ tbsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ thumbsized piece ginger, finely sliced into matchsticks
• ½ carrot, finely sliced into matchsticks
• 1 large red chilli, finely sliced into matchsticks
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced into matchsticks

The Marinade

• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

The Batter

• 250g potato starch (swapsies: corn flour / corn starch)
• 200ml water

The Sauce

• 6 tbsp rice vinegar
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• ¼ tsp salt

Massage the bicarbonate of soda into the sliced pork and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Then give the pork a rinse in cold running water to remove the excess soda. Once rinsed, squeeze the pork between the palms of your hands.

Now massage the marinade ingredients into the washed and sliced pork.

Slice the ginger, red chilli, carrot and spring onions ready to stir fry later.

Mix the sauce ingredients together until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

Next mix the batter ingredients together (the texture of this batter is slightly strange and should resemble a gluey paste rather than a traditional batter). Now add the marinated pork to the thick gluey batter and massage the pork quite vigorously into the batter so that each piece of pork is well covered.

BUILD YOUR WOK CLOCK: Start at 12 o’clock with the battered pork, followed by the ginger, carrot, the sauce, and then lastly the red chilli and spring onions.

Half-fill a large pot, wok or deep-fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 180°C (350°F), or until the tip of a wooden chopstick or skewer starts to fizz after a second or so in the oil. Carefully add the battered  meat, one piece at a time into the hot oil until all the pork is in the frying oil (you may need to split this into 2-3 batches of frying to allow each piece of pork to come out perfectly crispy).

Deep-fry for about  3-4 minutes and repeat the process until all the pieces have been fried once. Remove the pieces carefully with a slotted spoon and drain well through a sieve placed on top of a heatproof bowl. Once all the pork has been fried once, bring the deep frying oil back up to 180°C (350°F) and then lay all the pork carefully back into the oil for a second fry. This time fry for 1 minute and then remove from the oil and place on a plate or tray lined with 2-3 sheets of kitchen paper.

Now carefully pour the deep frying oil out of your wok into a saucepan to cool and finish off the dish as follows: heat ½ tablespoon vegetable oil in your wok to a high heat and add the ginger to the oil to sear for 30 seconds, then add the carrot and stir fry for 30 seconds to a minute before then allowing the wok to get smoking hot before pouring in the sauce.

Bring the sauce to a vigorous boil and slowly stir the sauce until it starts to become more syrupy and sticky in texture. At this point, place the crispy pork pieces back into the wok and fold the sauce around the pieces by either tossing the wok 3-4 times or folding with your spatula. Lastly add the chilli and spring onions and serve.