Sweet & Sour Pork Meatballs Recipe

Sweet & Sour Pork Sauce Meatballs With Ginger Rice

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes chilling time

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Meatballs

• 500g/1.1lbs pork mince (I made my own using trimmed pork loin chops)
• 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely diced
• 3/4 cup/150g/5ozs. already cooked (not raw) white rice or breadcrumbs (rice from the rice below also works, just make double)
• 3 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs. soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg, beaten

Sweet Sour Sauce

• 250ml/8.8flozs pineapple juice
• 125g/4ozs brown sugar
• 80ml/2.7flozs rice vinegar
• 60ml/2flozs. tomato sauce
• 40ml/1.4ozs. soy sauce
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons cornflour/fine cornstarch mixed with 2-3 tablespoons cold water

Also

• Oil for frying
• 1 large red onion
• 4 tomatoes (I used 2 but 4 is better)
• 150g/5ozs. snow peas

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Step 1 - Combine the pork mince, onion, garlic, rice, soy sauce, sugar and egg together. Use a small ice cream scoop (I swear by my small ice cream scoop for making sure that the meatballs are the same size). Line a tray with parchment and scoop out meatballs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (don't worry too much about shaping them well, we will do that later).

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Step 2 - Meanwhile mix all sauce ingredients except for cornflour slurry in a jug. Cut up onion and tomatoes into sixths. When meatballs have had their 30 minutes in the fridge reroll them again with damp hands. Bake in a 180C/350F oven for 25 minutes.

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Step 3 - When meatballs are cooked add oil into a frypan and fry the onion until starting to soften. Add tomatoes and cook for a minute. Add the sauce mixture and heat on medium heat and then stir the cornflour slurry and stir to distribute and thicken the sauce. Add the meatballs and snow peas into the pan and coat with the sauce cooking for just a minute.

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Ginger Rice

• 1.5 cups jasmine rice
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 inch ginger, sliced thinly
• 1 teaspoon salt or chicken stock powder

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Step 1 - Rinse the rice well until the water runs clear. Add the hot water, ginger and salt (I used a Peruvian chilli salt) and stir. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down to 1 or the lowest your stove will go and steam for 15 minutes (do not remove lid). Fluff with a fork and discard ginger pieces.