Subuta

Ingredients

• 8¾ ozporkshoulder, loin or leg, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1onioncut into wedges or chunks
• 1carrotroll-cut, usually par-cooked
• 2green bell pepperJapanese piman, seeded, cut into pieces
• 8pineapplecanned chunks, folded in at the end (optional)
• 3 tbsppotato starchabout 2 tbsp for coating the pork, the rest slurried in water to thicken the sauce
• 1 cupoilfor shallow-frying, about 1 cm deep in the pan
• 1½ tbspsoy saucepartly for the marinade, partly for the sauce
• 3 tbspvinegarrice vinegar or black vinegar, for the sauce
• 3 tbspsugarfor the sauce
• 2½ tbspKetchupfor the sauce
• ¼ cupwaterfor the sauce
• 1 tbspsakefor marinating the pork
• 1Eggbeaten, worked into the marinated pork
• 1 pinchsaltfor seasoning the pork
• 1 pinchpepperfor seasoning the pork
• ⅓ ozgingergrated for marinade or sauce, partly julienned and stir-fried (optional)
• 1 clovesgarlicgrated, a little in the marinade (optional)
• 3dried shiitakefresh, stems removed, cut into pieces (optional)
• 1¾ ozbamboo shootspre-boiled, roll-cut (optional)

Method

1. Cut the pork and vegetablesCut the pork into bite-sized pieces. Cut the onion into wedges, seed the green peppers and cut them into pieces, and roll-cut the carrot. If you're using them, remove the stems from the shiitake and cut the caps into pieces, and roll-cut the bamboo shoots as well.
2. Par-cook the firm vegetablesBriefly par-cook the carrot, and the bamboo shoots if using, in boiling water until just tender with a little bite left, then drain well.
3. Marinate the porkToss the pork with the salt, pepper, part of the soy sauce and the sake and leave it to marinate briefly. Add a little grated ginger and a small amount of grated garlic if you like, then work in the beaten egg thoroughly.
4. Coat the pork in starchDust the pork with the larger share of the potato starch, about 2 tablespoons, until every piece is coated. Stir the remaining starch with a little water into a smooth slurry and set it aside for the sauce.
5. Fry the pork until crispPour the oil into a frying pan to a depth of about 1 cm and heat it to around 340 °F. Fry the pork in batches until golden and crisp, then lift it out and drain on kitchen paper.
6. Flash-fry the vegetablesBriefly fry the onion, green pepper and carrot, plus the shiitake, bamboo shoots and julienned ginger if using, in the hot oil, or stir-fry them in the pan with just a little oil, so they take on some colour but keep their crunch.
7. Mix the sauceFor the sauce, stir together the sugar, vinegar, the rest of the soy sauce, the ketchup and the water until the sugar has dissolved.
8. Boil and thicken the saucePour off all but a little of the oil, add the sauce to the pan and bring it to the boil. Stir in the starch slurry and let it bubble briefly until the sauce thickens and turns glossy.
9. Toss together and serveAdd the pork and vegetables to the pan, fold in the pineapple chunks if you like, and toss everything until each piece is coated in sauce. Serve right away.

Tips and variations

A Japanese-style version replaces the ketchup with black vinegar, ginger and shiitake: the black vinegar takes over from rice vinegar, the ginger and shiitake go in as a fixed part of the dish rather than optional extras, and the sauce turns out rounder and less fruity. At its simplest, the sauce is just soy sauce, sugar and vinegar mixed in equal parts. A touch of oyster sauce gives it more depth. Another version rounds the sauce off with ume jam and chuno sauce, a thick Japanese seasoning sauce not unlike Worcestershire. Instead of mixing your own, you can use a ready-made sweet-and-sour seasoning sauce. If you'd rather not shallow-fry, brown the starch-coated pork all over in a little oil, then put a lid on the pan and let it cook through. One distinctive variation coats the pork in shiratamako, a glutinous rice flour, instead of starch and adds shiratama dumplings and wood ear mushrooms. Get it to the table as soon as it's tossed, while the coating on the pork is still crisp.