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Chinese sweet and sour sauce

Chinese Sweet and Sour Sauce

A zesty, savory sauce for Asian-style dishes! A lot of people love the dishes — and sauces — of Chinese and other Asian cuisines, and most of them can be made right at home. This Chinese sweet and sour sauce, for one, has an unusual and interesting flavor.

Snezhana

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Onion

Bell pepper

0.5

Vegetable oil

Soy sauce

Tomato sauce

Apple cider vinegar

Sugar

Salt

Pineapple juice

Cornstarch

Garlic

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 5 % 1 g

Fats 24 % 5 g

Carbohydrates 71 % 15 g

92 kcal

GI: 87 / 7 / 7

Cooking method

Cooking time: 20 min

Step 1:

Gather the ingredients from the list. Peel the onion and finely chop it with a knife. Pour vegetable oil into a skillet, heat it up, add the onion first, and fry it over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
Step 2:

Wash the bell pepper, cut it in half, remove the core and seeds, and dice the flesh small.
Step 3:

Add the bell pepper to the onion and keep frying them together for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spatula.
Step 4:

Add the pressed garlic to the vegetables, plus a pinch each of sugar and salt (just a pinch, since the soy sauce and tomato sauce already contain them). Pour in the soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, pineapple juice, and tomato sauce. For convenience, you can mix these liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl first. Stir the contents of the pan and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.
Step 5:

Add a teaspoon of cornstarch and keep simmering the sauce, stirring constantly with a spatula, until it thickens. Turn off the heat.
Step 6:

For a smoother, more uniform texture, you can blend the sauce with an immersion blender. The sauce is ready. It's a great match for Asian-style chicken or pork, and works over potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta as a zesty, savory gravy. Enjoy!

There are all kinds of Chinese-style sauce recipes, and you can pick one to suit your taste and whatever dish you're serving it with. Making a sauce like this at home isn't hard or time-consuming. Sure, buying a ready-made bottle is easier, but the quality and flavor won't match homemade — after all, you won't be adding the antioxidants, thickeners, and preservatives that store-bought sauces need for shelf life. And you can fine-tune a homemade sauce by adjusting the proportions: make it sweeter, spicier, thicker, or less salty.