Step 1

Combine the pork, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, the ginger, and the ground black pepper in a bowl. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate.Mix 1 cup starch and 3 cups of water in a bowl with a spoon. Let it sit on the kitchen counter until the starch sinks to the bottom of the bowl and turns solid (about one and a half hour).Drain the mushrooms, remove the tough roots, and cut into bite size pieces.Mix 2 tablespoons starch with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl, and let it sit for later, to thicken the sauce.Fill a deep 10 to 12 inch skillet with 4 cups of corn or vegetable oil. Heat it up over medium high heat until it reaches 330°F.Take the pork out of the refrigerator and mix with the remaining 2 tablespoons of starch.Pour out the water from the bowl of starch that was soaking. Add the egg white and mix well.Add the starch mixture to the pork. Use your hand to gently mix it in. Dip a piece of pork in the oil to see if it’s ready. If it sizzles, it’s ready.Drop the pork pieces into the oil. Use tongs to split them apart if they stick to each other. Fry in batches if you need to, until they are crispy and turn light golden brown (5 to 7 minutes). There should be plenty of room in the skillet for them to fry without always touching each other.When done, transfer to a strainer set over a bowl to drain.

Step 2

Heat the 1 teaspoon of corn oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, and carrot and stir-fry for 1 minute.Add the apple and stir-fry 1 minute.Add 3 cups of water, the sugar, the vinegar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and bring to a boil.Stir the small bowl of starch water one last time before adding to the sauce. Stir it in with a wooden spoon. The sauce will thicken and shiny.Let it sizzle for a few minutes and then remove from the heat.

Step 3

Mix 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a small bowl, to use as a dipping sauce.Heat up the oil and fry the pork for the second and last time, until they are very crispy and golden brown (about 3 to 4 minutes). You can crowd them in the skillet this time, but the color of the pork should be golden brown and shatteringly crisp. You should be able to feel the crispness through your tongs.Transfer to the strainer to drain, then put on a large plate.Reheat the sauce over medium high heat until it bubbles. Stir in the cucumber and pineapple for 1 minute. Add the sesame oil and stir for 10 seconds.Pour the sauce into a large bowl and serve on the side with the fried pork, allowing diners to dip their pork into the sauce as they eat. Alternatively you can pour the sauce over the pork and let everyone dig in. Whichever you choose, the soy sauce-based dipping sauce always goes on the side.

Step 4

Jessicaf North carolina joined 6/20 & has 13 commentsPosted June 19th, 2020 at 1:21 pm | Log in to reply. I just discovered wood ears this year. I Now put them in all sorts of things for their unique texture. I like that this recipe uses more veggies and fruits than most sweet and sour recipes—- but not as many as Thai style sweet n sour, which in my opinion usually has too high ratio of veggies to meats. This is perfect balance of ingredients. I bet this would be spectacular in an omelette too.