Chinese Sweet and Sour “Pork” (Vegan Recipe)

Step 1

You can watch the video below to see how I made this sweet and sour pork recipe!

Step 2

Rehydrate the pieces of soy chunks. You can do this my leaving it to soak in room temperature overnight.

Step 3

If you’re pressed for time, you can leave it to soak in hot water for 20 to 25 minutes or until doubled in size.

Step 4

Squeeze out the water from each piece of soy chunk then transfer into a large bowl.

Step 5

Add the soy sauce and garlic into the soy chucks.

Step 6

Mix well and leave to marinade for 10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients.

Step 7

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a large bowl or measuring cup. Mix until the cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.

Step 8

Heat a large pan or wok over high heat. Add enough neutral oil to submerge at least half of the soy chunks. Leave the oil to get very hot.

Step 9

Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl. Add in 6 tbsp fo the cornstarch.

Step 10

Add in the marinated soy chunks into the cornstarch. Mix each piece well into the cornstarch to coat. The pieces will be a solid white at the start because of the starch but the pieces will slowly absorb the starch so they’ll turn a bit brown.

Step 11

When the pieces have absorbed some of the starch, you can add 1-2 tbsp more cornstarch to make sure they’re coated very well. The coating is really important to get really crisp pieces of “pork” after frying.

Step 12

By this time, you can check your oil if it’s hot enough. There will be small bubbles and you can test the heat of the oil by placing a small piece of the “pork”. If it immediately bubbles when you place it, the oil is hot enough.

Step 13

Carefully place the pieces of coated “pork” in the oil. Make sure the pan is not overcrowded. If you’re using a large pan, you can cook everything in one batch. If using a smaller pan, you can cook this in 2-3 batches.

Step 14

Leave the “pork” to fry for 6 to 7 minutes or until golden brown throughout. You can move around and flip the pieces (if your oil doesn’t completely submerge the “pork”) to evenly crisp and cook each side until golden brown.

Step 15

Once the pieces are golden brown, remove them from the oil and place in a strainer to drain out the excess oil.

Step 16

You can also place them on a plate with some paper towels. Set aside. Do not cover to prevent these from sogging.

Step 17

Turn off the heat and remove the oil. You can leave around 1-2 tbsp of the oil in the pan, for stir-frying.

Step 18

You can strain out some of the starch pieces that are left in the oil and leave the oil to cool. I have this oil container with a strainer on top that I use to store my oil. Since these soy chunks are very neutral, I can still use this for another 1-2 times.

Step 19

I used the same pan for frying so I simply heated it over high heat with 1-2 tbsp neutral oil.

Step 20

Once hot, sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger for 1-2 minutes until the onions are cooked. Add in the bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes.

Step 21

Add in the pineapple chunks and cook for 1 minutes.

Step 22

Lower the heat to medium. Give the sauce a good mix again since the starch tends to sit at the bottom.

Step 23

Over medium heat, pour in the sauce to the pan.

Step 24

Mix well and then leave the sauce to boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Continuously mix until the sauce thickens.

Step 25

Once the sauce has thickened, add in the fried “pork” pieces and immediately mix well in the sauce. You’ll want to do this very quickly so the pieces of “pork” can retain its crispness (though let’s be real: no sweet and sour “pork” dish is actually that crispy especially after it soaks in the sauce).

Step 26

Turn off the heat then serve the sweet and sour pork immediately. Enjoy this while hot with some steamed rice.