Sweet & Sour Stir-fry with Four Protein Options

This makes a lot – a really good filling meal for 4 people, but it can be downsized. The fresh Sweet & Sour Sauce is easy to make, is sugar-free and much nicer than commercial brands. However, if you are short of time, simply use a good ready-made version.

Protein Options. Choose from

Vegan meat wok strips or pieces. These are a great cross-over food, especially if you’re cooking for a mixed bunch of veggies and meat-eaters. Look for Fry’s beef or chicken; Quorn Vegan Chicken Pieces; VBites Chicken (add these last, don’t fry in)
Tofu. Choose from
- fresh tofu, pressed to remove extra water, fried in a little oil and flavoured with garlic and soya sauce
- Cauldron marinated tofu pieces
- tofu puffs (deep fried tofu chunks) from an Oriental store, eg Chinese or Korean
Tempeh chunks fried up with orange zest, orange juice garlic and soya sauce – find chilled or frozen tempeh from good health food shops
Soya beans– frozen green variety, eg Birds Eye or Tesco. They are sometimes called ‘edamame’ and are often available in Oriental stores also.

The picture displays the stir fry with organic brown rice, edamame beans, fried red chilli, corriander, deep fried tofu (bought frozen from the oriental supermarket) and then fried with chilli, a squirt of maple syrup and tamari plus pinapple chunks fried on a med/high heat with maple syrup. Mmm!

Quick meal

Cheap

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Preparation time

30 min

Cook time

5 min

Total time

30-35 minutes

Cuisine

Chinese

Meal

mains

Servings

2-4

Ingredients

250g/9oz rice (use ready-cooked pouches if in a hurry. Brown or white are available)

Stir-fry Mix

175g/6 oz match-stick thin slices of carrot
175g/6 oz courgette sticks
175g/6 oz cabbage, shredded fine
Bunch of spring onions, sliced lengthways
1 green pepper, de-seeded and cut into match-sticks
Small can pineapple chunks, drained and lightly chopped
Protein option of your choice – see above
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt

Sauce

3 medium tomatoes
1 large carrot, roughly chopped (peel if necessary)
½ an onion, roughly chopped
60g/2oz pitted dates OR raisins
30g/1oz sun-dried tomatoes (any type), chopped with scissors
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp shoyu or GF tamari soya sauce
1cm/half inch piece fresh ginger,
Grated 1 clove garlic or 1 tsp garlic paste
PInch or two of of chilli powder
120ml hot stock

Instructions

Put on rice now – white rice takes 11 minutes, brown rice takes 20-30 minutes. Ready-cooked takes about 3-4 minutes to microwave.
Have the vegetables all prepared and ready.
Make the sauce: Blend all the ingredients until smooth then heat through. Keep warm.
Set a wok over the heat and get it hot. Add the oil, allow it to heat then put in all the vegetables and the pineapple.
Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until they are beginning to soften.
Add the protein option of choice.
Continue to stir-fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender and the protein option is heated through.
Give the sauce a quick stir, then add to the pan.
Heat everything through, check seasoning and adjust if necessary. Drain the rice if necessary.
Serve with the cooked rice.

Keywords

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