Sweet and Sour Pork

When a wedding feast was to be held at home, it would be a busy time for every one.

And the family would call up everyone who was related to help out. This gang of willing hands was called "Helping Hands" or puang (help) chew (hand). The helping hands go around helping everyone and in return,when it was their turn to hold a feast, the others would come and help. So it was all happiness and merry making. I can still remember how warm and helpful every one was from the youngest to the oldest. There was not an angry word at all.

Now how many pigs would be slaughtered for the occasion? According to my third uncle two or three pigs of a good size could be slaughtered for 120 guests and this could be for 12 round tables of adults. Small children was not budgetted for, as there would be plenty of food so to speak. Now the pig legs were important so if there were 12 tables, 12 pig legs would be required and this meant 3 pigs had to be slaughtered. This was the basis of calculation.

In another post I will give you the recipe for pork leg for a 1950's Foochow wedding feast.

Sweet and Sour Pork

750 gm good pork loin (pork chop quality)
2 tablespoon corn starch or tapioca flour
3 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp sesame oil
3Tbsp cooking oil
2 Tbsp finely ground black pepper
1/2 bottle tomato sauce
salt to taste
2 bowls of cooking oil
3 bombay onions , chopped coarsely
2 green capsicum, cut into squares
some water


Method

1. Slice the pork into twenty equal pieces
2. Marinade the pork slices with oil and cornstarch, salt and pepper for about an hour.
3. Heat wok and add the cooking oil. Fry the pieces of pork until half done. Dish out and keep warm
4. Leave a bit of the oil in the wok. Add sesame oil. Fry the onions, and put back the pork slices stir to mix well for about 8 minutes. Add the capsicum stir for about 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and a little water if the sauce is too thick.
5. Serve the dish hot.

Note : you can go slow with the vinegar if you don't like the taste. A little red wine would make this dish even better.