Sweet and Spicy Pork With Peppers, Pineapple, and Boiled Rice Recipe

Sweet and sour pork is a popular Chinese dish, usually served with chunks of pork cooked in the sweet and sour sauce or pork balls deep fried in batter and coated with the sauce. This recipe is a little different in that the flavours are sweet and spicy and that it is minced or ground pork that is used in the creation, meaning neither a wok nor a deep fryer are required.

Prep time: 5 min

Cook time: 40 min

Ready in: 45 min

Yields: 2 servings

• 1 pound minced/ground pork
• 2 or 3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
• Salt and pepper
• ½ red onion
• 1 can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
• ½ red bell pepper
• ½ green bell pepper
• ½ yellow bell pepper
• 1 red chilli pepper
• Small can pineapple rings in pineapple juice (4 rings)
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro
• 6 ounces (1¼ cups) basmati rice

Measure out the cooking oil in to a large saucepan and put the pan on to a medium heat. Add the pork and season with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, break the pork up and stir it around for a few minutes until it is evenly browned and sealed.

Finely slice the peeled red onion half and add it to the pan with the pork. Saute in a similar fashion as before for another minute or so until the onion strands are starting to soften.

Pour the canned tomatoes in to the pan and stir well. Turn up the heat slightly to bring the liquid element of the combination to a simmer.

Seed the bell pepper halves and slice to a thickness of around half an inch. Top the chilli and slice thinly in to discs. Add the lot to the pork and stir through. Simmer as gently as possible—uncovered—for half an hour, stirring occasionally.

Pour the pineapple juice from the can in to the saucepan. Roughly chop the pineapple rings and add them also to the pan before stirring well.

Chop the coriander/cilantro and add it to the pan.

Stir well and bring the mixture back to a simmer for as long as it takes to cook the rice.

As soon as the pineapple and coriander are stirred in to the pork, start the preparation of the rice. Put a large pot of salted water on to reach a rolling boil while you wash the rice thoroughly under running cold water and through a fine mesh sieve. Add the rice to the boiling water, stir well and adjust the heat to maintain a gentle to moderate simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain the rice at your sink through the sieve and let it steam off for two or three minutes to dry out.

Fluff the rice up with a fork before arranging it on your serving plates as beds for the sweet and spicy pork which can then be spooned out either alongside or on top.