RECIPE :: sweet and sour vegetables

Chinese cooking has some wonderful food that combines opposite flavours in a surprisingly tasty way. With this dish you have sweetness from the demerara sugar and the sourness from the white wine vinegar. The tamarind paste here is optional but it gives a much deeper flavour.

Ingredients
Main body vegetables
3tbsp of olive oil,
1 medium carrot (roughly chopped),
1 medium onion (roughly chopped),
1 red pepper (roughly chopped),
1 green pepper (roughly chopped),
225g / 9oz baby sweet corn,
225g / 9oz of beansprouts,
150g / 5½oz of waterchestnuts,
125g / 4½oz of bamboo shoots,
150g / 5½oz of pineapple,
½ inch of ginger (finely minced) and
2 cloves of crushed garlic.

Sauce
1½ tsp of mustard seeds,
90ml of white wine vinegar,
1½ tsp of tamari,
¾ tsp of salt,
1½ tsp of tamarind paste (optional),
1¼ tbsp of demerara sugar,
3tsp of cornflour and
4½ tbsp of water.

Method
1) To make the sauce; dry fry and crush the mustard seeds.
2) Combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan (except the cornflour and water), mix well and bring to the boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer.
3) Combine the cornflour and water then add to the sauce and continue to simmer until the sauce has thickened.  Remove from the heat and set aside.
4) To make the stir fry; put the oil in a wok and heat until very hot.
5) Throw in the carrots, onion and peppers into the wok and coat with the oil, fry over a high heat for 3 minutes constantly moving the vegetables.
6) Add the rest of the main body ingredients to the wok and fry for a further 3 minutes (or until the ingredients are hot).
7) Add the sauce to the vegetables and fry for a minute.  Serve immediately.