thebigfatnoodle

Sweet & sour prawns (feeds 2-3)

200 grams fresh prawns, peeled, de-veined and sliced into it halfway along its length

1 cup, french beans, topped, tailed and cut into half

1 carrot, peeled and sliced

3 cherry tomatoes, quartered

½ red pepper, cut into squares or strips

½ orange pepper, cut into squares or strips

1 red onion, peeled and cut into quarters

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and pounded/minced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and pounded/minced

1 red chilli, sliced (de-seeded if you don’t want to make your dish spicy)

Sweet & sour sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sweet soy

2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar (you can use any vinegar eg red wine vinegar/cider vinegar, white/malt vinegar etc)

1 tablespoon tomato puree

½ – 1 freshly squeezed lemon

2 tablespoons shaoxing rice wine

1 teaspoon sugar

150 ml chicken stock

1 heaped tablespoon cornflour (mixed with 3 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 spring onion, sliced thinly

Pineapple garnish

In a mortar and pestle, pound ½ cup of fresh pineapple chunks with a pinch of salt, a small hot chilli, 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of chinese rice vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have).

In a wok or deep fry pan, heat your vegetable oil and start frying your onions, turning them frequently so they don’t brown too quickly.

Fry the onions for about a min before adding the carrots and minced garlic and ginger.

Fry this for another minute before adding the rest of your vegetables. Fry for another minute.

Add your prawns, give it a quick toss and then pour your sauce.

Fry everything for about 3 minutes, during which time your prawns will have curled up and turned pink.

Last of all, pour in your cornflour mixture and keep stirring until your sauce thickens and becomes glossy.

Serve it with plain boiled rice garnished with some spring onions.