Sweet & Sour Sauce

This is a sweet, rich, piquante sauce that goes with fish or chicken or pork. It is infinitely better than the commercial, bought variety, and contains none of the MSG that can sometimes ruin the sauces you get in restaurants.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Chinese light soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

2 tablespoons tomato purée

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 onion

2 tablespoons peanut oil

6 peeled garlic cloves halved lengthwise

4 slices root ginger

1 tablespoon grated fresh root ginger

1 seeded green chilli cut into strips

2 tablespoons ginger syrup

                1) Mix together the soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, tomato purÈe, vinegar and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add 7 fl oz water.

                2) Mix the cornflour with 3 tablespoons cold water.

                3) Peel the onion, cut into 8 segments and separate the layers.

                4) Heat the oil in a wok and add the garlic and slices of root ginger and stir fry until the garlic is golden brown. Remove the garlic and root ginger.

                5) Add the onion, grated root ginger, chilli and ginger syrup to the remaining oil. Stir fry for 2 minutes.

                6) Add the tomato purÈe mixture and bring to the boil.

                7) Stir in the cornflour mixture and continue stirring until the sauce thickens. Simmer gently for a few minutes.

        Tip: If you are unable to find ginger syrup, add some grated ginger to some runny honey instead.

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