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27 mins
Sweet and Sour Pork Balls Recipe

Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

Rating 5-0 out of 5 - Most cooks definitely will make this recipe again
Graham

Recipe by  

I owe Ken Hom for this great recipe for Sweet and Sour Pork Balls. His book, "Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery", dating back to 1984, is a must-have for anyone interested in making good Chinese food.

Though I have amended his original recipe a little to better suit my own tastes, the end result is still a great Chinese classic. As with nearly all Chinese cooking, there are lots of ingredients so it pays to do all your preparation beforehand, and have everything ready just as you need it.

      Preparation Time: 15 Minutes

      Cooking Time: 12 Minutes

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

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Currently displaying quantities in US Imperial Measurements
to serve 4:
FOR THE MEATBALLS
1 lb
fatty minced pork
1
egg white
4 tablespoons
water
2 tablespoons
light soy sauce
2 tablespoons
dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons
rice wine
1 tablespoon
sugar
2 teaspoons
salt
¼ teaspoon
freshly-ground pepper
 
cornflour (cornstarch or wheat starch)
2
carrots
½
green pepper
½
red pepper
4
spring onions (a.k.a. scallions or salad onions)
 
groundnut oil
FOR THE SAUCE
5 fl oz
chicken stock
1 tablespoon
light soy sauce
2 tablespoons
dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons
sesame oil
½ teaspoon
salt
½ teaspoon
white pepper
1½ tablespoons
rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon
sugar
2 tablespoons
tomato purée (tomato paste)
2 teaspoons
cornflour (cornstarch or wheat starch)
 
fresh coriander

 

How to Cook Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

  1. Mix the minced pork with the egg white and water using your hands then add the soy sauces, rice wine, sugar and salt and pepper. Shape into balls about 1" (2.5cm) across and dust with a little corn-flour.
  2. Peel and very thinly slice the carrots on the diagonal. Cut the green and red peppers into squares about ½" (1cm) across. Finely slice the spring onions on the diagonal. In a pan of boiling water, blanch the carrots and peppers until nearly tender (about 4-5 minutes). Drain and set aside.
  3. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the pork balls until crisp and golden (3-4 minutes). Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
  4. Combine all the sauce ingredients except the cornflour in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the carrots, peppers and spring onions. Blend the cornflour with 1 tablespoon of water, then stir in the cornflour mixture and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Add the pork balls and warm through. Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.


Graham GRAHAM'S HOT TIP:
Serve with either Chicken Chow Mein or Chinese Fried Rice
 
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Reviews of Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

Rating 5 out of 5 - Many cooks will make this recipe again January 24 2015
This recipe is wonderful. Made it again last night and it was absolutely delicious. I added a tablespoon of ginger puree to the meat mixture this time and it was really excellent. I made a double batch and they were gone before I could blink!
(1 review)
 

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