Ginger Pork is the exact same recipe as Canadian Ginger Beef. Except we use julienned pork loin instead. It’s an incredible dish with fried, crispy strips of pork tossed in a savory sweet & sour sauce with some heat. You can make it as spicy as desired with added red chili flakes or even by tossing in some red Thai chilies or other chilies.
Ginger beef is a once-in-a-blue-moon dish, mainly because of the price. Ginger pork, on the other hand, is made far more often. Because pork loin regularly goes on sale, and when chopping the pork loin down, I always reserve some for this dish; it’s just too good. Serve this with some Steamed Rice.
Ingredients for Ginger Pork
Pork, Oil for Deep Frying, Batter (Cornstarch, Water, Egg, Flour, White Pepper), Vegetables (Green Onions, Garlic, Ginger, Carrot), Ginger Pork Stir-Fry Sauce (Water, Soy Sauce, Red Chinese Vinegar, Sugar, Chinese Cooking Wine, Gochugaru Chili Flakes, Crushed Red Chili Flakes).
Julienned Pork
Use either 1 lb (454 g) pork loin or pork chops that are sliced into strips about french fry size. Once you have all the pork sliced up, it will go into the batter to be refrigerated. The batter will also tenderize the pork the longer it sits in it. Any fat trimmings can be saved and frozen to render out pork fat for other recipes.
Ginger Pork Batter
The ginger pork batter consists of cornstarch, flour, egg, white pepper, and cold water. Black pepper can substitute for white pepper.
Once the batter is mixed, add the pork and mix again to refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer. A longer marination time will assist in tenderizing the pork much more. There may be some liquid from the meat that settles at the top with short marinades. Just drain that off before mixing again prior to deep frying. The batter may become stiff or separated from the water with longer marinating times; just gently mix to loosen it up.
Ginger Pork Batter
- 1 1/14 C Cornstarch
- 3 Tbl Flour
- 1 C Cold Water
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 Tbl White Pepper
Ginger Pork Vegetables
The vegetables used are ginger, carrots, garlic, and green onions. All of these are Julienne. If you want to add onions & peppers, add them to the stir-fry a bit and soften them before adding in the garlic & green onions, since these only need a few seconds to soften.
The julienned carrots & ginger are added into the hot oil with the ginger pork when doing the final fry. While green onions & garlic are stir-fried briefly, they may include onion strips, peppers, and chilies that are stir-fried until softened, and then green onions and garlic are added. You can also include the onions and peppers when deep-frying the carrots and ginger.
While I julienne the garlic, ginger, and green onions by hand. The green onions’ tops are chopped off and sliced to use for garnish. While the remaining green onions are chopped into 2-3 inches and julienned as well. For the garlic & ginger, slice thinly and lay flat and then slice into strips. For carrots, I use a julienne Y-peeler.
Ginger Pork Stir Fry Sauce
All the ingredients are combined into a bowl and go into the wok to boil for 2 minutes. Then add in the fried ginger pork with the carrots & ginger to toss.
Ginger Pork Sauce
- 1/4 C Water, Sugar & Soy Sauce – each
- 1/2 C Chinese Red Vinegar
- 1 Tbl Sake or Chinese Cooking Wine
- 1 Tbl Korean Chili Flakes (Gochugaru)
- 1/4 tsp Crushed Red Chilies, either in the sauce or stir fried with the Garlic & Green Onions.
How to make Ginger Pork
Ensure you have a pot at the back of the stove with a sieve for straining out the hot oil after deep-frying. A deep fryer won’t work the same and will cause everything to stick to the basket. The whole dish, when ready to cook, comes together in less than 15 minutes and is served right away.
If making Steamed Rice to serve with this dish. Start deep-frying the ginger pork when 15 minutes of cook time remain for the rice or when the rice is done cooking and just kept warm until the ginger pork is ready.
Prepare the Batter & Pork
Combine the batter ingredients and whisk well. Add the patted-dry, julienned pork to mix and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or longer.
Ginger Pork Sauce
Combine all the ingredients together and set aside until needed.
Vegetables
Set aside the julienned carrots & ginger. These will be deep-fried with the strips of pork during the last deep frying to crisp the batter. The garlic & green onions are set aside to add to the wok when ready to stir-fry.
Deep Fry
Quickly add half of the pork strips one at a time and deep fry at 375 F for about 5 minutes. Break them apart, as they will stick. Repeat for the second batch. Once the oil reaches 375 F again. Toss in all of the ginger pork with the carrots & ginger to fry for a minute or so. Scoop out and set aside.
Empty the Hot Oil
Empty the hot oil into the pot set on the back of the stove, fitted with a fine sieve. Return the wok coated in a thin layer of oil to the burner.
Stir Fry
Heat the wok up again over max heat and add the garlic, green onions, and crushed chili flakes if not included in the sauce. Follow almost immediately with the stir-fry sauce. Bring it to a boil and hold for 2 minutes. Shut the heat off and then add the pork strips with the carrots & ginger and toss to coat. Serve right away.
Ginger Pork with Dark Soy Sauce and Red Thai Chilies
Instead of gochugaru chili flakes and crushed red chili flakes, I added in 2-3 red Thai chilies for the heat that were fried with the garlic and green onions. Instead of regular soy sauce, I used dark soy sauce. This was served with pork fried rice with eggs and Gyoza Dumplings, Delicious!
Ginger Pork with Long Green Pepper
This one included the gochugaru chili flakes and long green pepper for additional heat. While the long green pepper was good for additional heat. It pairs up exceptionally well with beef.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Pork - julienne, about french fry size
- As Needed Neutral Oil - for Deep Frying
Ginger Pork Batter
- 1 1/4 C Cornstarch
- 1 C Water
- 1 Whole Egg
- 3 Tbl Flour
- 1/2 Tbl White Pepper - Can use Black pepper instead
Vegetables
- 3 Large Cloves of Garlic - julienne, sliced or chopped
- 2-3 Inch Ginger - julienne
- 1 Large Carrot - Julienne
- 1-2 Stalks Green Onions - Julienne, save the tops for garnishing
Ginger Pork Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/4 C Cold Water, Sugar, & Soy Sauce - each
- 1/2 C Chinese Red Vinegar
- 1 Tbl Chinese Cooking Wine - Sake, Shaoxing or Rice Wine
- 1 Tbl Korean Chili Flakes - can exchange with 1-3 Red Thai Chilies
- 1/4 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Instructions
- Prepare Pork & Batter: Combine the ingredients for the batter into a bowl and mix well. Julienne the pork into about the same size as fries. Add it to the batter and mix well. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more. This can also be done first thing in the morning or the night before.
- Prepare Vegetables & Sauce:Combine the stir-fry sauce in another bowl and mix well. Set aside until needed. Place a large pot on the back burner (no heat), enough to hold all the hot oil, and a fine-mesh sieve on top in order to strain out any bits. Wash & prepare the vegetables. Julienne the green onions, saving the tops to slice and use as garnish. Julienne the carrots, garlic, and ginger. Set apart the carrots & ginger to deep-fry with the pork and the green onions & garlic to stir-fry in the wok.
- Deep Frying: Heat over max, with enough oil to come up about halfway up the wok or a bit less, fitted with a thermometer so you can gauge the heat. When the oil hits 375°F, quickly add half of the battered pork, one at a time, and break them apart while frying for 5 minutes. Scoop them out with a spider into a large stainless steel bowl for holding, and repeat with the second batch. Allow the oil to reach 375°F again before adding back in all the ginger pork with the julienned carrots & ginger to fry for 1 minute or so, until the strips crisp right up. Scoop everything out with a spider and set it aside. Empty the oil through the sieve and into the pot.
- Stir-Frying:Place the wok back on the heat (max). Empty the vegetables (garlic & green onions) in and mix. Almost immediately follow with the sauce. Bring it to a boil and hold for 2 minutes. Toss in the crispy strips of pork with carrots & ginger. Toss well to coat evenly and serve right away. Garnish with sliced green onion tops and optionally with sesame seeds.
Notes
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