Sweet and Sour Pork Bellies

In China, there are two versions of sweet and sour pork, the southern style and the northern style. Since most of the Chinese overseas originated from the southern part of China, the one we are more familiar with is the southern/Cantonese style of sweet and sour pork.

Many posts ago, I shared a sweet and sour chicken recipe which is based on southern/Cantonese sweet and sour pork, so you can use that recipe and switch chicken with pork and make Cantonese style sweet and sour pork.

Today, I am going to share the northern style of sweet and sour pork, which is actually simpler and more straight forward to prepare, but is decidedly less colorful without all the pineapples and bell peppers which are commonly present in the southern style.

What do I need to prepare northern style Chinese sweet and sour pork?

For this dish, you will need:

• 900 gram (2 lbs.) pork bellies, you can also use pork ribs too if you wish

And these two ingredients to marinate the pork:

• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, feel free to sub with regular soy sauce if that’s what you have
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine, you can also use Japanese sake or dry sherry, and if possible, use drinking grade as oppose to cooking grade

For the aromatics, you will need:

• 2 inch ginger, thinly sliced
• 4 scallions, white parts only, thinly sliced

For the sweet and sour sauce, northern Chinese style, you will need:

• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon black vinegar, or sub with balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 1/2 cup water

You will also need:

• 2 tablespoon sugar, to caramelize and to give that glossy coating
• sesame seeds, for garnish
• the green part of the 4 scallions, thinly sliced, also for garnish

How do I cook northern style Chinese sweet and sour pork?

The steps to prepare and cook this lovely sweet and sour pork dish is as follow:

1. Marinate the pork.

Mix together pork bellies with light soy sauce and Shaoxing wine. Set aside for 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

2. Fry the aromatics.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over medium heat, fry ginger and white part of scallions until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set this aside.

3. Sear the pork.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok, turn the heat to medium-high, and sear the marinated pork until all the surface is golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

4. Caramelize sugar.

Clean the wok, then add 1 tablespoon of oil and the sugar, heat on medium-low until the sugar has melted and slightly caramelized (the color is light brown), then add the seared pork and gently toss to coat. Turn off the heat.

5. Cook with sauce until tender.

Return the fried ginger and scallion, along with the sauce (dark soy sauce, black vinegar, Shaoxing wine, and water). Mix well, then turn the heat on to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the wok, and simmer for 45 minutes or until the meat is tender.

6. Thicken the sauce.

Remove the cover, there should be some liquid left. Turn the heat to medium-high, and continue cooking until the sauce thickens and coats the meat with a high gloss finish.

7. Garnish and serve.

Transfer the finished dish to a serving platter. Garnish with sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions. Serve immediately with steamed white rice.

How do I serve sweet and sour pork?

The most common way is to serve this with steamed white rice, but you can also thinly slice the cooked meat, and use as noodles/ramen topping, or use the thinly sliced meat as steamed buns (mantou) filling with some fresh lettuce leaves. Basically, make a Chinese style sandwich. :)

These are delicious whichever way you choose to serve them. If you are planning to serve this for a party, feel free to double or triple the recipe. Simply follow the same cooking guide even for a double/triple/quadruple batch. :)

Other sweet and sour dishes for you to try

If you love sweet and sour dishes like this, you may want to try these recipes too:

• sweet and sour chicken, Cantonese style
• sweet and sour pork chops, Peking style
• chicken and lychee in sweet and sour sauce
• easy spicy sweet and sour fried chicken
• pan-fried fish with Thai sweet chili sauce