Tangsuyuk (Korean style Sweet & Sour Pork or Beef)

I saw this recipe at:

www.maangchi.com

Maangchi is a very talented Korean woman who as a hobby enjoys cooking and making videos. She is proffesional, has a sense of humour, and cute. Below her videos on her blog she includes the written recipe, I love watching her videos and they are very helpful (she's better than foodnetwork lol.) I love her taste in music, she always uses music in her videos as backround and intro's. Her cooking focuses on Korean Cuisine, she cooks very authentic home-style foods she learned from her family (I think grandmother) which I think is really cool.

I've tried several of her recipes before (her Kimchi and Kaktugi, Spicy Stir-fried Squid, Kimchi Fried Rice and Bulgogi, and Spinach Side dish are the recipe's I have tried so far not to forget the Tangsuyuk)

When I saw her video for Tangsuyuk it was very appealing, and then sometime last week a Korean online foodie buddy (can't think of another expression at the time) she told me that she loves Tangsuyuk and that I should try it because it's very delicious, I showed her Maangchi's video she gave it a thumbs up and urged me to try it and so I decided to make it today and she wanted pictorials lol. it was a hit in my house, my parents and little sister loved it.

So I decided to post it here how I made it with pictures I made it almost identical to Maangchi with very little differences.

Her recipe for Tangsuyuk uses ingredients that are available to anybody in the USA you don't need any special hard to find ingredients (except the wood ear mushrooms I can get them easily but decided to use cremini mushrooms because I had some in the fridge) I am lucky to have a Korean store really close as well as a Chinese store, Vietnamese, and Filipino store (so I have a lot of Asian stuff available and as you can probably tell by looking at my favorite blog list on my blog I enjoy a lot if different types of Asian food and cooking it at home very much, except I usually don't blog about it because well you can go check their blogs, but this one I did blog about because someone asked me to put a pictorial of Tangsuyuk in addition to them seeing the Tangsuyuk on Maangchi's page, plus this is a good way to send some traffic to Maangchi and express how much I like her blog)

Main Ingredients:
-1 1/2 lbs pork or beef thinly sliced and cut into strips
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Ingredients for batter
-2 cups cornstarch and 3-4 cups water (mix together, let sit 1-2 hours, drain, you will have a thick batter add 1 egg white and stir well incorporate)

For Sweet and Sour Sauce:
-1/2 a cucumber thinly sliced
-1/2 onion julienned
-2 small carrots cut into rounds
-1 red apple wedged (I think a sour pungent green apple would be tasty to)
-1 can pinapple in chunks drained
-1 small pack fresh button mushrooms
-2 cups water
-1 teaspoon soy sauce
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 cup dark brown sugar (you can use turbinado, white, or brown, whatever I used dark brown because I like the taste)
-4 tablespoon applecider vinegar (she used 3 but I like more acidity)
-2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoon water

Ingredients for dipping sauce:
-Equal soy sauce to apple cider vinegar (she uses 3 tablespoon soy sauce 2 of vinegar but again I like pungent flavors so I use equal amounts)

Directions:
(1)So before you start make sure to soak the 2 cups cornstarch in generous amount of water in a bowl for 1-2 hours this will make the starch settle at bottom and be moist and thick, drain water, add egg white mix well. While batter is resting prepare the rest and do all your chopping, etc. prepare for what's ahead haha.

(2)Okay so now assuming you have the batter ready, etc. get the meat sliced into strips and season with salt and pepper, mix well, add to the batter and mix really well it should be gloppy.

(3)Heat oil in a wok or skillet on really high heat, add each strip of meat one by one and fry in batches 5 minutes each. Set aside.

(4)While meat is frying, etc. you can multi-task start making sauce, heat a little oil in a pan on high heat, add onions, carrot, and mushrooms sautee 1 minute, add 2 cups water bring to a boil add soy sauce, salt, and sugar, stir well, bring back to boil add pinapple, apple, and cucumber and cornstarch mixture slide gently with a big spoon until thickened, set aside.

(5)Now you may think this is crazy but it makes really crispy meat, before serving (you can do everything of the above in advance) you can deep-fry meat again for about 2 minutes in several batches, transfer to serving bowl, reheat sauce, pour over the meat and then serve with dipping sauce for the meat and I served it with rice and since I didn't have Kimchi I served it with a type of Mexican pickled Jalapeños with onion, cauliflower, carrot and garlic that is spicy and pickled. (I will show the recipe for those pickled veggies some other time) My mother made a delicious healthy papaya fruit drink very good for digestion and soothing on the stomach.