KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 – This Chinese classic is a favourite of many, especially children because of its appetising sweet and sourish taste. It is popularly referred to as gu lou yuk. Find it in restaurants or tai chows who often prepare one-dish meals featuring it and rice with a fried egg on top.
The dish tests the skill of the chef with its textures and balance of flavours. The pieces of pork meat are coated in rice or corn flour batter and deep-fried twice for a crunchier taste. It’s stir-fried over high heat with cut fruits like pineapple and vegetables like green capsicums and tomatoes for that slight tangy taste.
The ultimate version should have a crispy exterior paired with juicy tender meat with a bit of fat inside. The pork pieces should be lightly coated in a balanced sweet and sour sauce and paired with crunchy vegetables and fruits.
Every restaurant has their own recipe for the sauce. The original recipe in China uses haw flakes made from hawthorn or sha zha for a fruity tang and the signature scarlet hue.
This version is a rare creature in Malaysia, where the cooks prefer to mix tomato ketchup, vinegar and sugar to create the tangy and sweet sauce. Some restaurants also use the same sauce to pair with fried fish.
There’s also a new fangled way to enhance the crunch, using a method known in Chinese as bing zhan gu lou yuk. The crispy pieces of pork tossed in the sauce are buried under a mountain of ice-cubes.
This method crystallises the sauce around each piece of the pork to give it a crispier bite and more flavour. Under the mound of ice-cubes, a stainless steel plate with holes allows the melted ice to drip to a bowl to prevent the pork pieces from turning soggy.
At Rawang’s Yao Kee Seafood Restaurant, they use a slightly thicker crust to coat the pieces of pork. When chilled, this version has a candy-like crunch. One drawback: digging through the ice mountain can be quite tedious.
Sang Kee Restaurant
No. 1-G, Lorong Bukit, Off Jalan Hang Jebat, KL. Tel: 03-20785092
This old school Chinese restaurant boasts of a legacy of more than 50 years experience with its grey haired chefs. Expect a more traditional sweet and sour pork dish – niblets of crispy battered pork coated in an orange sauce with a balanced sweet and sour taste.
The crunchy pork is also paired with an assortment of chopped green capsicums, large onions, pineapple and cucumber. You can access the restaurant via Jalan Sultan. Just walk up the hilly road next to Kompleks Selangor to discover the hidden spot. Alternatively, it shares the same compound as the Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute located on Jalan Hang Jebat.
Restoran Lek Lek
12, Jalan PSK4, Pusat Perdagangan SK, Seri Kembangan, Selangor. Tel:03-89413404
This restaurant is a popular favourite with the locals. Originally, it used to be known as Ah Lit when it occupied a humble wooden shack. Their sweet and sour pork is a favourite with those who like it fried to a crunch.
When you bite into the wafer thin deep-fried pork pieces, you get a tooth-shattering crunch. It’s liberally served with an abundance of sweeter tasting sauce with a mild tanginess. It’s also served with cut tomatoes, green capsicums, cucumbers and onions. The restaurant also does a yam ring version topped with sweet and sour pork.
Restaurant Chef Choi
159, Jalan Ampang, KL. Tel:03-21635866
Their sweet and sour pork is perfectly done with a lightly battered crust and juicy meat minus the fats. Unlike other places, it’s lightly coated with the not overly sweet or sour sauce, making it extremely addictive with a bowl of white rice. The vegetarian version which uses beancurd skin to mimic the meat is equally good or even better according to some loyal fans.
Restoran Gold Dragon City
16, Jalan 20/16A, Paramount Gardens, PJ. Tel:03-78764633
This place is popular for family gatherings as it offers bang for the buck and well-prepared Chinese food. The deep fried pork tends to be softer and not overly crispy. Here the sauce is a bright red with a slight fiery taste. This is contributed by the unusual addition of chopped red chillies into the mix of cucumber, onions, pineapple and dual colours of capsicums. The sauce is also popular paired with a crispy battered fried fish.
Yume Cuisine
Lot G-33A, Ground Floor, Tropicana City Mall, 3, Jalan SS20/27, PJ. Tel:03-77256636
One of the best versions of the chilled sweet and sour pork dish is located at this restaurant tucked into one corner of the mall. It’s decorated with photo frames of varying sizes as the owner was originally a frame maker. The chef took about half a year to perfect the dish with its light crispy crunch and delicious sauce, after he was inspired by a television show about this dish.
It’s reputed to be able to keep crispy for one hour, and paired with canned longans. Other popular dishes include a melt-in-the-mouth claypot braised pork, an aromatic crispy prawn shell fried with string beans, mushrooms and red capsicums, and the comforting soup of rice noodles, prawns, vegetables and mushrooms with a sweet tasting pig bone and chicken broth.
