Sweet and Sour Pork (or Chicken or Tofu)

In China, I learned how to make a very simple sweet and sour pork recipe. We often think of "sweet and sour pork" as a very goopy, bright red American Chinese food, but it doesn't have to be that way at all. A good sweet and sour sauce is super easy and very tasty.

Ingredients:

a few cloves of garlic, diced
shredded pork (or shredded chicken, or pre-fried tofu, or anything you want)
soy sauce (for color)
sliced wood mushrooms (optional)
vinegar (black Chinkiang vinegar, or red wine vinegar, or even white vinegar or rice vinegar)
sugar (white, brown, etc)
fruit jam or syrup (optional)

Heat wok to high heat, once the wok is smoking, add oil. If you are using mushrooms, stir fry these first until they are mostly cooked. Then remove from the wok. Heat wok again, then add garlic - stir fry for a few seconds, then add the meat. Cook until meat begins to turn color, add a spoonful or two of soy sauce to give the meat a nice browned color. Continue to cook and stir, then add about 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar, and about the same amount of sugar. Adjust to taste, depending on how sweet or sour you like the meat. If you have a fruit syrup or jam, especially one on the more sour side, add a teaspoon of this as well to give the dish a fruitier flavor. Or add a bit of sliced tomato if you want it to be more like a tomatoey sweet and sour sauce.

Continue cooking, add salt if needed, then serve with rice! Very easy and delicious.

Tonight I made sweet and sour chicken, and it came out well too. I used Chinkiang vinegar, white sugar, and a bit of sour cherry jam. Cherry syrup would also work well, as would a mango chutney (or other less sweet chutneys)

If making this with tofu, I think it would be better to fry some cubes of tofu first so they are crispy on the outside, then stir fry them with the garlic and the other sauce ingredients. Yummm