Tropical Sweet and Sour Pork

 

Happy New Year to you all. If you are living in the Northern Hemisphere where it is freezing in parts I hope you are keeping warm, and if you are somewhere very tropical like we are, reaching temperatures of 36-40 deg. C daily, I hope you are keeping cool and well hydrated. At the moment, we are enjoying any outside work, gardening or walking very early in the morning or late in the evening. Thankfully in Australia it's the Summer of Tennis and Cricket, so during the day I can relax watching sport on the television, reading, practicing my piano, sewing, mending, or whatever else takes my fancy. That's how we Summer in North Queensland. 

 It's the time to prepare for another big year, adding important events to the calendar, planning projects, hopefully some travel, and so forth. I am away from my own kitchen for a while, so my cooking right now needs to be simple, tasty and nutritious without too much fuss. Hence this very tasty pork dish, which I made after Christmas using some left over pork from a delicious pork roast. 

 Dear friends, this is such an easy and economical version of Sweet and Sour pork with delicious  flavours, using basic ingredients, and is so simple to put together if you are travelling or just needing to cook a very simple but tasty dish at home. More vegetables such as zucchini, or snow peas can be added if you have them on hand. Because I used curry powder as an ingredient, leftovers tasted even better the following day.

This style of cooking is so much healthier for us to eat when we are in a rush than reaching for a ready made jar of sweet and sour sauce from the supermarket which is full of preservatives,  and tastes much better anyway.

Left over cooked chicken, fresh chicken, or fresh pork can also be used as a substitute for the cooked pork. Just cut  the fresh meat into cubes, fry it until cooked and remove from the pan, and then add to the pan after cooking all of the other ingredients. So easy and fast, this is the way I love to cook in Summer.

This is a sweet and sour chicken version of this dish that I made recently as well. I always add a couple of extra ingredients, depending on what I have on hand. Do you? 

Ingredients:

500 g cooked pork meat, cubed
1 large red capsicum
4 celery stalks
1 400 g can pineapple pieces, or use fresh pineapple if you prefer
1 tin tomato soup
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 finely chopped cloves of garlic

Method:

Lightly fry cooked pork until warmed through and remove from pan. Or if using fresh pork, cube pork pieces in vegetable oil and fry until browned. Remove from pan. 
To the frying pan add chopped vegetables and cook until softened.
Add pineapple pieces and juice.
Add sugar and curry powder.
Return the pork to the sweet and sour mixture and simmer until the dish is slightly thickened.

 Serve with rice or noodles and a green vegetable.

With the rise of covid infections in our communities again, we are limiting how often we shop at the supermarket, and yesterday we noticed once again that some supermarket shelves and refrigerators are empty, and toilet paper shelves are stripped bare, so I'm trying to keep lots more of the staples in my pantry, such as canned foods which can be added to to dishes like this one, healthy grains, beans, and  spices. However, as I always try to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients, I have to admit I also have a very well stocked pantry, quite full of homemade preserves and jams etc. I hope you are all faring well in your homes and feeling refreshed, and enjoying the benefits of a fresh start to the year.


Pauline