Sweet and Sour for the Whole Family

Ok, I'm going back on my normal principles here.  There is no cutting out sugar in sweet and sour.  Well not unless you want to go down the sweeteners route which I don't.

That said, this is slightly lower sugar than a normal sweet and sour and full of fruit and vegetables.  It's all credits and debits, i.e. the hidden additional veg kind of offsets the sugar and much better than those nasty balls that you can get; you know the ones with the frighteningly thick batter.  Ewww.  I'm justifying it...

So I've written a recipe for the sauce and a couple of ways to use it.  The great thing is you can make the sauce in advance then use a few spoonfuls for your child's tea then use the rest for yours when you're ready for it.  I know in our household my son is ready for tea around 4:30/5pm which is a stretch for me.

Sweet and Sour - serves 2-3

Ingredients

5 tbsp White wine vinegar
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Tomato ketchup
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1.5 tsp Cornflour (cornstarch) mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce

To make into a dish
Green peppers
Pineapple
Carrot
Prawns or chicken (or tofu if you prefer)
Oil for stir frying

Method

Put the vinegar, sugar, ketchup and soy into a saucepan and bring to the boil and bubble until the sugar dissolved.  Mix in the cornflour paste and chilli sauce stirring all the time.  Stir well until thickened.

If you're not using immediately, put into a bowl and chill.

To cook stir fry the carrots and chicken if using.  When they chicken is nearly cooked if using or when the carrots are starting to cook, add the sauce and a few tbsp of boiling water (add more throughout cooking if it gets too thick before everything is done or it's looking like it's going to burn).  Add in the green pepper and prawns if using, stir fry for a few minutes.  When nearly done add in the pineapple and when everything is cooked through and hot and the sauce coating everything, serve with rice or noodles.