Chinese pork balls & caramel pork
Make the sauce for the pork balls by combining the tomato ketchup, white wine vinegar, water, soy sauce, five-spice powder and sugars in a sauce pan. Bring to the boil whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for a further 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Add the cornflour paste to the sauce to thicken it to the desired consistency. Set the sauce aside to be reheated later.
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based saucepan to 170°C.
Prepare the caramel pork by combining the pork loin strips with half the sesame oil, the sugar, soy sauce, white wine vinegar and pepper in a mixing bowl.
Heat the remaining sesame oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat until hot then sauté the pork with the sweetcorn for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until cooked.
Meanwhile, pat the cubes of pork loin dry and dust in the flour. Season with salt and pepper.
Make the batter for deep-frying by adding water to the self-raising flour, whisking all the time until you have a batter that falls easily away from the whisk. Drop the floured pork balls into the batter and then lower carefully into the hot oil and deep-fry for roughly 3 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
Reheat the sauce and pour over the pork balls once all have been deep-fried. Spoon into a serving bowl and garnish with the mint leaves and toasted pine nuts.
Transfer the caramel pork and sweetcorn to a serving bowl and garnish with the grated carrot.
Ingredients
For the pork balls
1l vegetable oil for deep-frying
300g pork loin, cut into cubes
25g plain flour
salt
pepper
200g self-raising flour
water (enough to make the batter the right consistency)
4tbsp tomato ketchup
60ml white wine vinegar
60ml water
100g caster sugar
45g brown sugar
1tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1tbsp cornflour, dissolved in 30ml cold water
1tbsp soy sauce
25g pine nuts, toasted to garnish
mint leaves, to garnish
For the caramel pork
300g pork loin, cut into strips
50ml sesame oil
1tbsp soft light brown sugar
1 small carrot, grated
100g baby sweetcorn
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1tbsp white wine vinegar
pepper