Low Sugar Sweet and Sour Sauce

Christine Bailey

This recipe is very popular with clients and my own children. You can easily ditch the syrups and juice in sauces, and maximise the flavour with tangy rice vinegar, rich tomato paste and plenty of spices. Adding a few chunks of pineapple provides a wonderful texture and natural sweetness without the need to resort to added syrups. If you need a little extra sweetness you can add a little xylitol or pinch of stevia but as the pineapple is sweet you may find you don’t need it.

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 6

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Ingredients

1tsp olive oil or coconut oil
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 crushed garlic cloves
½ tsp fresh ginger root, grated
½ red chilli, deseeded and finely diced or pinch of chilli flakes, optional
¼ tsp Chinese five spice powder
4 tbsp tomato puree
200ml fresh vegetable stock
2tsp cornflour
2 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp xylitol or pinch of stevia (to taste)
2 tbsp tamari soy sauce, gluten free
200g fresh pineapple cut into small pieces
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of sea salt

Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 6

Preparation

Serves 4 - 6. You can pour this sauce over cooked vegetables or use as a dipping sauce. You can store the sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months.

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion for a couple of minutes until it starts to soften. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli if using and stir for a minute.
In a small bowl add the cornflour and mix in 3tbsp of vegetable stock to make a smooth paste.
Add the remaining vegetable stock, vinegar, xylitol, tamari and tomato puree to the pan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat, add the pineapple chunks and cornflour paste and simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken the sauce. Season to taste.