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Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

Ready in 27 mins

Recipe by Graham 

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

If you are not familiar with any ingredients, please check our International Cooking Terms page.

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'S HOT TIP:
Serve with either Chicken Chow Mein or Chinese Fried Rice