Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs

Ground pork is a "hit or miss" item in our local grocery store. Most of the time, all they have available is ground beef, so we either stock up when we see it on the shelves, or ask our butcher to grind some for us. I could have used ground beef in this recipe, but "we love the pig" as my father-in-law always says.

What you need:

500 grams ground pork
1 tbsp. rice wine
2 tbsps. corn starch
1/4 cup water
a handful of green beans, cut into smaller stalks
1 small carrot, julienned
1/4 of a large onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup frozen corn
2 tbsp. olive oil
regular oil for deep frying

For the sauce:
3 tbsps. sugar
3 tbsps. vinegar
3 tbsps. soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
dash of sesame oil
dash of Sriracha

What to do:

Mix all the sauce ingredients in a container with a lid. Stir, cover, and shake well. Set aside.

Dissolve the salt and cornstarch in water, add the rice wine. Mix well and add to the meat. This will be the binder that will hold the meatballs. Form into about 1-inch balls. Deep fry the meatballs until golden brown. Drain on a cooling rack and set aside.

In a separate skillet or wok, heat the olive oil. Stir fry the garlic and onion for around 30 seconds, then throw in the carrots, corn, and green beans. Cook for 1 minute (a little bit more and the carrots would be limp). Put in the meat balls and add the sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for around a minute or two.


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. You can use jicama or water chestnuts to add a little bit of crunch to the texture. Add it along with the carrots.
2. If you want a hotter sauce, add more Sriracha to the sauce and set aside longer.
3. Substitute Sriracha with Sambal Oelek, Chili Garlic paste or Tabasco. Whatever you have in your pantry!
4. You can use regular oil for the stir fry. However, olive oil is healthier!
5. Stir fry is always done on high heat to seal in the juices! Be careful of splatters, though.