Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sweet and Sour Pork

Going out to eat for Chinese food is often tricky in the gluten-free world. Many foods are made with soy sauce, which in most cases, is made from wheat. Fortunately, restaurants like P.F. Changs have gluten-free menus and do a great job at making their food available to all. But it's still nice to have a few Chinese (well, Americanized Chinese) dishes in your repertoire. Here's one of my favorites -- made just a bit healthier.

This is a typical sweet and sour pork recipe. It doesn't call for anything particularly fancy, except for agave which is my preferred sweetener (but you can certainly use sugar). Also, my sister recently made the recipe with tofu instead of pork -- making it easy to convert vegan as well. Also, instead of being served over rice, the A-man and I opted to serve it over lightly sauteed shredded cabbage; a now favorite option of mine.

Sweet and Sour Pork (gluten-free, dairy-free)

Serves 2 for dinner

About 2 pounds of pork tenderloin (or drained, extra firm tofu), cubed
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup canola or grapeseed oil
1 cup cubed fresh or canned pineapple
1/2 chopped yellow onion/pepper/carrot (optional)

for the sauce:
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup agave
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons gluten-free soy sauce

In a wok or skillet over medium heat, add the oil -- make sure it doesn't smoke. Meanwhile, add the cornstarch to a large ziploc bag then the pork and shake until evenly coated. Fry the pork until crispy in small batches and drain on paper towels. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan add all of the sauce ingredients and whisk together. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for a few minutes. Adjust agave and vinegar if desired. Add the pork back into the wok, then add the pineapple and vegetables, then the sauce. Stir to combine and serve over rice or lightly sauteed shredded cabbage.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love P.F. Chang's. I am lucky, they have many more options for dairy-free than gluten-free.

However, I have been wanting to make more chinese food at home, and I do have a weekness for this dish. Thanks for the recipe! I am bookmarking it now.

Marlow said...

I love P.F.Changs. It's the first time I ever had curry.

Great dish!

Anonymous said...

I love re-creating restaurant food at home! And your version, I'm sure, is much healthier. :)

Stacey said...

This sounds pretty easy to make at home. I'll have to try the sauted shredded cabbage it sounds interesting.

Liz said...

I've noticed that Alisa! Though somewhat limited, the gf menu from there has some great food.

Nice Marlow! They do make a mean curry too.

Thanks Ricki! I think I could make it even healthier if I tried. Hmmmm...

It was pretty easy Stacey and I'm a convert -- no more rice for me with those dishes -- the cabbage was awesome.