Boneless Sweet and Sour Pork

This dish takes a while to prepare but it's totally worth it! If you have a good recipe, homemade dishes are always ten times better than restaurant ones and this dish is a proof.
Unlike the restaurant version, I skipped the bony riblets and just marinade the meat lightly. So the pork tastes like pork! I also add extra bell peppers and cook the onion a bit longer so it won't be spicy and taste sweeter.

The special way to prepare the pork here is the key which makes every piece of pork tender and juicy in the inside and crunchy on the outside. So here is the Boneless Sweet and Sour Pork from my kitchen:

Ingredients

1 lb. of pork butt, excess fat trimmed (yes, butt has some fat therefore is more tender. If you do not prefer this cut, use tenderloin.)

1/2 of each green, red and orange bell peppers

1 onion

1 green onion

1 cup of corn starch

Pork marinade:

1 tsp. of soy sauce

a dash of ground white peppers

a dash of sugar

1 tsp. of corn starch

1 tsp. if oil

For the sauce:

1 part white vinegar 

2 part ketchup 

2 part sugar

1/2 part corn starch

1/2 part cold water

Salt to taste

How

1. First, handle the pork. Thinly slice the meat against the grain. Each piece should not be more than the surface of two fingers.
   
2. Add the first 4 marinade ingredients into the sliced pork and mix well. Then add the oil and mix well again. Let the meat marinade for at least 15 minutes.
   
3. Pour the cornstarch into a big bowl. With your hand, spread out and drench a piece of pork into the cornstarch. Make sure the cornstarch completely covers up the piece of pork. Dust off the excess cornstarch, roll it up tightly, hold one end with your fingers and press the other end down on a cookie sheet to make it look like a ball or a flower bud. Continue to do the same for each piece of sliced pork. Try to make each ball in similar size; combine 2 little pieces or trim out the excess. Rest the pieces on the cookie sheet without touching each other. When done, let the meat set for at least 20 minutes on the countertop. At the end of the 20 minutes, you will see the cornstarch on the surface of the meat is not as white and the meat looks dry on the surface.
   
   
4. While waiting for the meat to set, prepare the sauce and vegetables. Mix the sauce and adjust it to your taste and set aside.
   
5. Dice up all the vegetables into 1 inch pieces and set aside.
   
6. Now deep fry the meat. Heat up a big pan with about 1 inch of oil in it. When you dip a corner of a piece of meat into the oil and you see a lot of bubbles, that means the oil is ready. Carefully add the meat into the oil one at a time without touching each other. Turn the heat down to medium high and let the meat fry for 1 minute. Turn the meat over and fry for another minute. Remove the meat from the oil and rest on paper towel. Repeat this step until all the meat pieces are fried.
   
    
7. Now turn the heat up to high and bring up the temperature of the oil. Just before it starts smoking, add all the meat pieces into the oil and give it a gentle stir. After 30 seconds, quickly remove all the meat from the oil using a big slotted spoon. Rest the meat on paper towel again to drain off the excess fat. Remove the pan with oil from the heat source, place it at a safe place and let it cool down before discarding the oil.
8. Heat up a different clean pan and add about 1/2 tbs. of oil into it (I used the same oil form frying the meat). Add onion and the white parts of the green onion and stir fry on medium for about 1 minute.
9. Turn up the heat and add all the bell peppers. Stir fry for 2 minutes. 
10. Add in all the fried meat and the green part of the onion then stir well. Then add the sauce and stir quickly to coat everything with the sauce. Add a dash of water (only a dash at a time!) if it's too dry and starts sticking to the bottom. As soon as every piece is coated and heated up. Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.