An old favourite, now much maligned because it’s often oily battered pork in a sickly jam-like sauce. Sweet and sour pork is generally made with pork tenderloin (which takes little time to cook through) doused in batter and deep fried. I thought that using diced pork a modified version could be arrived at. The dice will take longer to cook - and that’s easier to do in the wok where it’s joined by the vegetables - and pineapple chunks if you so desire (I have a personal dislike of them but drop in 2-3 pieces per person if you don’t).

Instead of deep frying the pork I thought that some crispy prawns would be a lovely alternative and if they’re scattered over at the last they won’t be made soggy by the sauce.

Ingredients - serves 4

sunflower oil for deep frying
2 tbsp sunflower oil
450g diced pork
12-16 shelled jumbo prawns
1 tbsp sake or dry sherry
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp plain flour + some for dusting
1 egg
2 red peppers, seeded & cut into strips
4 salad onions, sliced
generous handful bean sprouts

for the sauce:
2 tsp cornflour
100ml water
4 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
2 tbsp tomato ketchup

Method

Make a simple batter by beating the egg and flour together until smooth, leave to stand. Marinate the diced pork and prawns in a mixture of the sake and soy sauce. Make the sweet and sour sauce by mixing together the water and cornflour in a small saucepan, now stir in the sugar, soy, ketchup and vinegar before gently heating and simmering for about 3 minutes until thickened, set aside.

Remove the prawns and pork from the marinade and pat dry - set aside the prawns. Fry off the diced pork in a wok with 2 tbsp sunflower oil for 5-6 minutes or until browned and almost cooked through then add the peppers and cook a further 3-4 minutes, then the bean sprouts for a final minute, by which time the pork should be completely cooked through (test). Reheat the sauce to bubbling and pour over the pork, taste and adjust seasoning.

Dust the prawns in flour, dip in batter and deep fry for a couple of minutes to crisp and golden, drain on kitchen paper. Serve sweet and sour pork over rice with crispy prawns and sliced salad onions scattered over.