The irony was the sauce tasted better with the firm tofu I tossed in for kicks


JULY 19, 08

RECIPE

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients
Pork, cut into 1 inch cubes (1/4 kg?)
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/3 cup pineapple chunks
1/3 cup firm tofu, chopped into bite-size pieces
SAUCE
3 tbsp tapioca starch/cornflour
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple/orange juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp cooking wine
3 tbsp tomato paste

1. Rub pork with salt and cornflour.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, egg and water to make batter.
3. Coat pork with batter and deep-fry until cooked and bown.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in wok and stirfry onion.
4. Mix all sauce ingredients and add to wok, stirring till sauce thickens.
5. Stir in fried pork, pineapple chunks and tofu, cooking until all ingredients are thoroughly heated.

---

It looks the real deal, but this was actually a very mediocre dish. First off, I really dislike the recipe, but I'd already decided on the dish (having only read the ingredients list and not the steps) and I was too lazy to google up another recipe. I hate deepfrying. Nothing makes you feel as sick and unhealthy as oil dripping off glistening food back into a pool of oil. Secondly, the recipe called for more work than I thought. Isn't Chinese cooking all about the stirfry?! Why the coating in 2 batters & deepfrying?

It did not help that the pork had a really disgusting stink to it. I don't think the pork I handled the last time I made a pork dish smelt like that...but if it does, I fully understand why the bible says the pig is the dirtiest animal. Or maybe it's just because this is Chinatown pork (spare ribs, to be exact). It doesn't even have the expiry date written!

Other problems in the cooking process: Tried to circumvent the deepfrying by just stirfrying - clearly did not work as the batter just got thick and messy before solidifying so had to switch to deepfrying. Also, batter itself was too thick and had already fried half the pork before adding more water to make it thinner.

As for final outcome. Added too much tapioca starch in fear it would be runny (think: lemon chicken failure), but it became too sticky (crap, it's always either too watery or too sticky). As for the taste, I have one important tip: do NOT use spaghetti tomato sauce to substitute tomato paste. Way too strong. Also, I would put in less (or no) pineapple chunks, because the pineapple acidity was too strong. Most of the batter skin from the deepfrying came off at some point the stirring into the sauce (possibly because a) it was too thick b) I didn't deepfry at a high temperature so it didn't really stick) as well. Also, maybe the batter was too thick but seriously, it was just like eating soggy dumpling skins; that doesn't help me like the dish any more...

The only thing I thought actually tasted good with the sauce was the tofu. But then again, tofu tastes good with anything.

Also, I'm definitely getting better pork the next time. Too many bones, rubbery meat, and the stink that still haunted the meat even through the strong sauce!

VERDICT: FAILED

Labels: COOKING

1 BITES