This is my dad's recipe, the best sweet and sour recipe on earth, don't believe me? try it.

Serves 4.

I pork fillet, trimmed and cut into 1/2" cubes
Plain flour
Cornflour
Water
Dark Soy Sauce
White Wine Vinegar
Unrefined Granulated Sugar
1/2" cube of Ginger
1 Sweet, very ripe red pepper
2 spring onions
1 cup of basmatti rice
Oil

First, prepare the pork by trimming and cutting it into bite sized cubes (but not too big).

Now, make the sauce. Very, very thinly slice the red pepper and cook gently in a small pan with a little oil. Cook like this for 10-15mins, do not allow the pepper to colour or burn. What you are doing here is drawing the sweetness and flavour out of the pepper. You know when it's done when the pepper has practically melted and the oil has a red tinge to it!

Cook your basmatti rice as per my recipe in the Grains and Pules section (Conor's Perfect Rice).

Now, make the sauce, the secret to this sauce it it's simplicity. No fruit, no water, no juices, no pineapple, no tomato. Simply add sugar, vinegar and soy sauce in a 3:3:1 ratio to the pepper! That's it. For this dish I would use 6tbs of vinegar and 5 of sugar (you add one less sugar, then taste it) and two of dark soy sauce. If your soy is quite light, add a little more. Let the sugar dissolve and simmer for a few minutes. Taste. You might find it a bit strong, just add a splash of water. If it is too sour, add the 6th Tbs of sugar. If it's too sweet, add a splash of vinegar. Try and avoid temptation by adding a pile of sugar. Remember, it's SWEET AND SOUR, not SWEET sauce!!!

Mix a tsp of cornflour with a little water to thicken the sauce. Leave to the side.

Toss the pork cubes in seasoned flour. Get a large wok with a quantity of oil quite hot. Make a quick, thick batter with flour, water and season well. Add a pinch of baking soda and cornflour as well. Add the pork pieces to the batter.

Now the skilful bit, drop about 15-20 cubes into the hot oil, one by one. Carefully separate and stir using a slotted spoon and a fork. Allow to cook for 2-3mins or until golden. Remove and place in to a colander. Repeat this in batches for the rest of the pork, should take no more than three batches.

Once the pork is done, carefully pour the hot oil into a saucepan or steel bowl and place well out of harms way. Add a splash of fresh oil to the wok and get really hot. Add the pork back into the work and stir for a couple minutes. Add the grated ginger and spring onion. Stir a couple times then pour over the sweet and sour sauce. Stir a couple times again. Serve immediately along side your heated rice. So not allot to sit as the batter will soften.

Enjoy.

You can of course serve the sweet and sour sauce with anything of your choice, like ribs:

1kg of pork ribs
1 egg yolk
2tbs cornflour
Pepper
Flour

Steam the prepared ribs for about 50mins to an hour or until the meat is very tender. Remove and cool. Add the cornflour and egg to a large bowl. Season well. Mix in the ribs to this thick paste, trying to coat evenly as possible. Not cover the ribs in seasoned flour and deep fry in a wok as above. Finish off by pouring the sweet and sour sauce over the ribs in a large pot. For this method you should add a bit extra soy to the sauce and make it much thicker, to you end up with black, sticky sweet and sour ribs