Nutri Natters

Rita’s blog for lovers of real food

5th May 2014

 Sweet and Sour Sauce 
 

This tangy sauce is quick and easy to make.  I’ve used molasses (a good source of minerals) or Jaggery (extract of the Palmyra palm which is a bit like brown sugar and rich in B vitamins and minerals) to give the sweet taste and cider or white wine vinegar for the sour. This sauce is gluten- and dairy-free.

It goes well with pork steaks, pork chops, sausages or chicken.  You could even make a sweet and sour bean dish using ready-cooked haricot beans or chick peas – just reduce the cooking time to 30-40 minutes.

Ingredients: (makes 2 large portions)
1 tablespoon of coconut oil or olive oil
1 onion chopped
400 gr (14oz) chopped tomatoes (can be tinned)
1 or 2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 thin slices of lemon (preferably unwaxed)
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
½ pint of vegetable stock or water
2 teaspoons of molasses or Jaggery powder (extract of the Palmyra palm, from health food shops or online)
1 tablespoon of tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
Instructions:
Set the oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4
First, brown the meat on both sides in the oil. Remove the meat from the pan and place in a covered oven-proof dish in the oven.
 Gently fry the onion and celery in the oil for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, lemon slices, vinegar, bay leaves, molasses or Jaggery, soy sauce and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on the pan for 5 minutes.
 Pour the sauce over the meat, cover the dish and return to the oven for 1-1 ½  hours until the meat is tender. If you like a thicker sauce, remove the lid from the dish for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
 Before serving, crush to garlic and add to the dish. Remove the bay leaves and serve with roast potatoes (cooked in coconut oil) or rice and a few green vegetables –cabbage and cauliflower go well.
If you like a smoother sauce, you can liquidise it before adding to the meat. If you are making the sauce in advance, it keeps in the fridge for 2 days and freezes well.

Another sauce on this blog that you may like to try:

 Salmoriglio is an olive oil, herbs and lemon dressing  for meat or fish from Sicily. Scroll down a little further to find it.

Rita

Rita Carmichael nutritional therapist, Nottingham, England
http://www.nutrimatters.co.uk/