Photo: my_amii / Flickr

Sweet and sour sauce is used in traditional Chinese cooking but it can also be used as a dipping for fondues or as a basting sauce for chicken. Alternatively, use it with pork sausages, in which case omit the soya sauce listed in the ingredients which include: butter, onions, green peppers, chicken stock, pineapple, orange, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, cornflour and pepper. This recipe yields four cups of sauce. It can be frozen for but should be thickened when it is reheated.

Ingredients

Measure out the following ingredients to make four cups of sweet and sour sauce: 120 grams of butter, 4 finely sliced onions, 2 seeded green peppers (to be cut into strips), 1 cup each of chicken stock, pineapple juice and pineapple pieces, 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, 1/2 cup of vinegar, 120 grams of sugar, 60 ml of soya sauce and 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.

Prepare a cornflour paste by mixing one level tablespoon of cornflour and some pepper with two tablespoons of soy sauce. The pineapple pieces can be liquidised if you wish.

Method

Place the butter in a large pan and melt it on a medium heat. Add the onion and pepper and stir until the vegetables are soft. Add the prepared chicken stock, fruit juices, pineapple pieces, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and ginger and simmer for about 20 minutes. Season to taste.

To thicken the sauce, add the prepared cornflour, stir it in and cook the sauce for another two minutes. Serve with chunks of meat that have been fried in batter or marinate pork or lamb ribs before grilling them.

As mentioned, this sweet and sour sauce also works well with chicken, in which case baste baby chickens or brush cooked chicken with the sauce. Any leftover sauce can be used as a marmalade.

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