Sweet & sour pork

• pork fillet↗1

  (about 500g), trimmed and cut into 3cm chunks

• sunflower or vegetable oil↗

  for deep-frying

• cooked rice↗

  or noodles, to serve

• light soy sauce↗1 tbsp tbsp
• Shaoxing rice wine↗2 tbsp tbsp

  or dry sherry

• garlic clove↗1

  grated

• ginger↗thumb-sized piece

  thumb-sized piece, grated

• cornflour↗50g g
• salt↗½ tsp tsp
• ground white pepper↗1 tsp tsp
• celery salt2 tsp tsp
• caster sugar↗2 tsp tsp
• sunflower oil↗1 tbsp tbsp
• garlic cloves↗2

  finely chopped

• ginger↗thumb-sized piece

  thumb-sized piece, chopped

• green or red pepper1

  roughly chopped

• tomato ketchup↗2 tbsp
• rice vinegar↗4 tbsp
• sesame oil↗1 tsp
• light soy sauce↗2 tbsp
• soft brown sugar↗1 tbsp
• pineapple chunks↗300g can
• sesame seeds↗1 tbsp
• rice flour↗100g
• cornflour↗100g
• baking powder↗1 tsp

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Mix the pork with the marin ade ingredients and leave to sit for at least 15 mins, or chill for a few hours. In a separate bowl, mix all the coating ingredients. Drain any excess liquid off the pork and toss the pork in the seasoned coating. Can be done 1 hr ahead.

2. 2

   To make the sauce, heat the oil in a shallow saucepan and gently fry the garlic, ginger and peppers until just starting to soften. Now drop in all the rest of the ingredients except the sesame seeds. Bring everything to the boil and cook for a few mins until thickened, then take off the heat. To make the batter, whisk the flours and baking powder together with 200ml water to a smooth paste.

3. 3

   Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer, large saucepan or a wok to 180C or until a drop of batter sizzles and browns in 20 secs. Dip the marinated pork in the batter mix (do it in two or three batches) and let any excess drip off. Fry the pork in batches for about 5-6 mins or until golden. Remove and drain on kitchen paper until all the batches are done. Make sure you bring the oil back to the correct temperature between each batch. Coat the crispy pork in the sauce, then sprinkle over the sesame seeds, coriander and serve with rice or noodles.