Sweet & sour sauce

The greatest gift that Chinese and Italian migrants brought to the lands of plenty they settled in is their amazing cuisine. And if ragù alla Bolognese is the Italian condiment par excellence, sweet and sour sauce represents its oriental counterpart in terms of fame and ubiquity.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

PREPARE THE INGREDIENTS

• Wash and peel the carrot.
• Finely chop the scallion and the peeled carrot.
• Cut the pineapple into small cubes and set aside.
• Blend the cornflour with the water in the pineapple can and set aside. 
• Mix the tomato juice, vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in another bowl.

*Note*

If you are in a hurry you can mix 150 ml of tomato puree with 100 ml of tomato juice from a carton. We had plenty of time to kill though, so we squeezed out the pulp of our tomatoes for the real thing.

PREPARE THE SAUCE

• Sauté the scallion and the carrot in a large pan with the olive oil.
• Add the tomato juice, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar to the the pan.
• Bring to the boil for 1 minute, stirring continuously so that the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Add the cornflour and pineapple mix, stirring to prevent the formation of lumps.
• Cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

Now you have two options:

1. If you like your sauce crunchy (carrots take a long time to cook) let it cool off and then add the pineapple cubes.

2. If you fancy a velvety feel, let it cool off and then pour the sauce into a blender with half the pineapple cubes; blend until smooth and use the leftover pineapple as a garnish.

SERVE YOUR DISH

You can enjoy your sweet & sour sauce with a multitude of dishes; here’s a list and quick cooking instructions for a few.

Chicken in Sweet & Sour sauce

Marinate 300 gr of chicken breast strips or cubes (two servings) in the sweet & sour sauce for 3 hours; roll the chicken in a beaten egg and then in a cornflour and sesame seeds mix. 

Next, you have three options:

1. Deep fry the chicken

2. Brown the bird in a pan

3. Brown it in an oven

While the chicken is cooking, sauté some peppers and onions in another pan; when the chicken is ready, add it to the vegetables with some cubed pineapple.

Serve steaming hot.

Sweet & Sour Pork

As above but with pork. This is a very tasty option, especially if you choose belly as your cut.

Prawn crackers

If you’ve had enough of cooking, get yourself some prawn crackers, one (or five) Tsingtaos and chill on the sofa with your sweet & sour sauce and the latest Netflix.

ENJOY!