Sweet and Sour Veg is a great little recipe for using up bits and pieces from the vegie drawer of the fridge, you can even add leftover cooked meat as well (see notes below)! I know that it has sugar in it, but a little sugar now and then, and you can reduce it to suit your taste, so the flexibility is there. The great thing that I like about this recipe is that it gets family members who are not normally great veggie and rice eaters, to clean their plate! So it’s a win for me.
This is the best recipe for using up all the bits and pieces from the vegie crisper! You can make it with veg only, or add prawns, fish, chicken, pork fillet, or serve with crumbed fish, crumbed prawns, even chicken or pork schnitzel!
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- ½ onion peeled and cut into thin slices or wedges
- 1 carrot peeled and cut into thin strips or slices
- ½ red capsicum cut into thin strips or large dice
- ½ cucumber cut into half moons
- 100 g snow peas cut cut in half
- 2 tsp cornflour
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
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Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan.
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Add the carrot and onion, stir-fry for 3 minutes, then add the capsicum and cucumber, stir-fry for 2 minutes and then add the snow peas.
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Blend the cornflour, water, soy sauce, tomato sauce, sugar and vinegar together, add to the vegetables and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.
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Serve with Jasmine rice garnished with the spring onions.
This is such a flexible recipe that can be cooked up in no time!
- The veg in the recipe can be swapped out, or used as a base - you could also add:
- baby corn
- bean shoots
- beans
- broccoli florets
- cauliflower florets
- cabbage
- tomato wedges
- zucchini
- Add a protein
- chicken
- stir fry your veg and remove from the pan and set aside while you then stir fry diced chicken, return the veg to the pan, add the sauce ingredients and continue.
- alternatively, add leftover cooked chicken after the sauce has thickened, cook in the sauce until heated through.
- try the sweet and sour veg as an alternative side for crumbed chicken schnitzel - delicious!
- fish
- add after the sauce mixture and continue to cook until the fish is just done, alternatively, cook the fish separately and serve on top of the sweet and sour veg.
- serve the sweet and sour veg alongside crumbed fish.
- prawns
- add after the sauce mixture and continue to cook until the prawns are just done, alternatively, cook the prawns separately and serve on top of the sweet and sour veg.
- top sweet and sour veg with cooked crumbed prawns
- pork
- stir fry your veg and remove from the pan and set aside while you then stir fry sliced pork loin, return the veg to the pan, add the sauce ingredients and continue.
- alternatively, add leftover cooked pork after the sauce has thickened, cook in the sauce until heated through.
- try the sweet and sour veg as an alternative side for crumbed pork cutlets - delicious!
- tofu
- press a block of firm tofu for an hour, to remove any excess moisture, then dice and stir fry. Add to the stir fry vegetables before adding the sauce mixture and continue.
- chicken
- If you have leftover steamed veg, just make up a batch of the sauce and carefully reheat the veg in the sauce.
- Try a little fresh coriander as a garnish, also.
- The measurements used are metric, therefore
- 1 tbsp = 4 tsps
- 1 cup = 250 ml
- 1/2 cup = 125 ml
If you have a moment, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you see on
this page – just pop a note in the comments box below.
With many thanks and kindness,
Julie.
This is delicious. I just made this for dinner, adding left over roast pork. It was so easy and as I cook for one, enough veggies for one more meal, which I can have either with rice or with a different protein. I really like the versatility of it. I’ll definitely use this recipe again and again.
Thank you so much Jan. So happy that you enjoyed the recipe, and that it will be on the repeat list for you.