This is one of the most delicious sweet and sour sauces I have ever had, however, the balance of sweet vs sour is very much a personal matter, so you may wish to adjust the ingredients to strike the balance that suits you.
BATTER INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp egg replacer powder (I used Orgran, or you can get Ener-G in the US)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
just under ½ cup (125 mL) warm water
BATTER METHOD
- First combine the flour and cornstarch in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Then stir in the egg replacer, and vegetable oil.
- Now slowly add the warm water, mixing with a fork or small hand whisk as you do so, until you have a smooth, thickish batter – however, it should still be able to fall off the back of a spoon. Cover, and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, you can prepare your sausages.
SWEET & SOUR INGREDIENTS
6 vegan sausages (I used Linda McCartney), pre-fried and chopped into chunks
approx 2 Tbsp (30 mL) soy sauce (I use Clearspring organic – UK or US)
vegetable oil for deep frying (a few cups)
SWEET & SOUR SAUCE INGREDIENTS
1 cup (250 mL) freshly squeezed orange juice (1 used 1 large juicy orange)
¼ cup sugar of your choice, or agave nectar
2 Tbsp soy sauce (30 mL) – Clearspring organic – UK or US
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp cornstarch, premixed into a paste in a small cup, with 4 Tbsp (60 mL) cold water
1 heaped Tbsp vegan instant tomato soup powder (optional)
2 drops natural red food colouring (try Dr Oetker US, or UK)
2 heaped Tbsp thick tomato ketchup
15 chunks pineapple (I used Del Monte brand) and set aside
¼ cup pineapple juice (reserved from can)
2 tsp (10 mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 medium green pepper, chopped into 1 inch pieces, and set aside
1 large white onion, chopped into 1 inch pieces, and set aside
1 red chilli (optional, if you wish to make this dish hotter)
SWEET & SOUR METHOD
- First, fry your sausages until they have a little colour. Then remove from heat, allow to cool down, cut each one into about 5 pieces, and marinate in a little soy sauce in a bowl, cover and place in the fridge.
- Now it’s time to make your sweet and sour sauce.
- Blend all the sauce ingredients (except the chopped vegetables and pineapple) together in a mixing bowl, using a hand blender. Pour into a small saucepan, cover set aside.
- Chop the green pepper and white onion into approximately 1” pieces, and set aside in a bowl, covered, in the fridge. Likewise, decant your pineapple chunks into a bowl, cover, and place in fridge.
- Next, preheat your oil in a deep pan in readiness for deep frying your sausage pieces. You will know it is ready when you immerse a tiny piece of sausage, and the oil starts to bubble.
- Then dip each piece of sausage into the batter mix, making sure to cover it completely from all sides, and then place on a large dinner plate. When ready, pour any remaining batter over the top of the sausages on the plate.
- Using a metal strainer, place around 3 or 4 sausage pieces on it, and immerse them gently into the hot oil, ensuring you don’t have more than about 8 pieces in the pan at a time. Deep frying should take around 4 minutes, but do test one piece to ensure the batter has become crunchy on the outside. Be careful not to overcook it though. Your judge should be your taste and the visual. Prepare a large plate, by placing a piece of kitchen roll on it, and as you take each piece out, place on the kitchen roll to drain off any excess grease. Continue this process until all the sausage pieces are fried. Now place your sausage pieces in a small ovenproof dish, and place in a warm 120 C oven, to ensure they remain warm.
- Meanwhile, on a very low heat, heat up the sweet and sour mixture in a small saucepan, and mix with a small hand whisk or wooden spoon, until it thickens.
- When the sauce has thickened, stir in your pineapple chunks, and leave on the lowest heat setting.
- Next, deep fry your green pepper and onion pieces for 1-2 minutes, before removing and placing on a piece of kitchen towel on a plate. These should remain raw but hot, as they need to retain their natural crispiness.
- Preheat a large glass or porcelain serving dish (you can do this in the microwave for a couple of minutes). Gently stir your sausage pieces, green pepper and onion mix, into the sweet and sour sauce mix, before transferring into your preheated serving dish. Feel free to garnish with some roasted cashew nuts.
All recipes and content © Miriam Sorrell www.mouthwateringvegan.com 2010
These are free recipes for your pleasure – all we ask in return is that you take a few moments to leave us a constructive comment !
suitable for vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike
Oh Miriam, this look yummy. Definitely one to try.
Let me know when you do Sharron ! 🙂
Hi Miriam quick question. Do u thinking can omit the ‘batter’ bit as I’m not a big fan of deep-fried food. I am going to give it a go tonight. Let u know how it goes! Thanks
Miriam,
Any ideas on what I could replace the “meat” with due to allergies?
Crystal Hi there. I think you are going to have to google and call your health food stores locally to find out what meat substitutes are sold in your area/country ! You could buy frozen burger meat (vegan of course), thaw that and roll into balls – just an idea. Do let me know how it goes as and when Crystal. Best wishes your way in the meantime !
Debbie Hi there. I am not a fan of any batter and don’t like most I have tasted. I can say with much confidence that this batter is an awesome one as far as batter goes – once a year won’t hurt Debbie and it will make a big difference to the outcome of this dish. The texture/batter and the sauce are the 2 components that make or break such a dish – I do hope you try it with the batter – do use absorbent paper to get rid of the excess oil – it really does work and the dish is not complete without it. BTW my batter is not like conventional ones that creates a thick yucky coating on the ‘meat’ but rather a thinnish one that gives a wonderful texture to it, you can see this from the pic. Do let me know how it goes and enjoy !
Hi Miriam Debbie here again. After all, I followed your recipe as above and it turned out beautifully! Lovely Friday night meal – thanks (:
going to try this over the weekend! I’m not a fan of pork flavor ~ have you ever tried it with tofu or a faux chicken or seitan substitute??
Do you have a date yet of when your cookbook will be out? Can’t wait to get it!!
Anne Hi there and thanks for your interest in my book, here is my link for pre-orders on Amazon for you
http://www.amazon.com/Mouthwatering-Vegan-Irresistible-Recipes-Everyone/dp/0449015653/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360657536&sr=8-1&keywords=mouthwatering+vegan
Best your way in the meantime ! 🙂
Anne HI there – the ‘pork’ sausages that we get here are great, and knowing they are 100% plant based doesn’t worry me. That said, it will taste great with faux chicken or seitan too. Let me know how it goes as and when if so. 🙂
Hi Miriam – loved this dish. I didn’t use any food colouring and I used Faux chicken and it turned out beautifully. Another one for the keep folder 😀 Hope you are having a great weekend.
Hi there Sharron, am so glad you tried and enjoyed this delight ! You really are busy in that kitchen of yours, preparing awesome food !! Great stuff ! 🙂
This recipe is AWESOME! Thanks so much, I also left out the food colouring and used faux chicken, which worked really well. Thanks so much, it is definitely one I will use again and again, much nicer than takeaway dishes! x
Right you are Lauri and so glad to hear that you like’d it so much – it is definitely better than take out, and being able to make it vegan too without compromising the taste is an even greater bonus ! Look forward to your future comments on my blog !
I made this today using VBites Lincolnshire sausages. It is amazing with rice. Thank you Miriam!
Helen Hi there and thanks for your feedback – so glad you enjoyed this dish, I bet you really enjoyed it with the rice ! 🙂
I’ve just looked here now and see you have a recipe for sweet and sour using sausages(Fry’s though, it’s got to be Fry’s!). I shall try this at some point too, although I am happy with the battered marinated tofu, pepper and carrot as well.
I cheated on the batter and used a tempura mix. I’ve read that it is very low gluten so you can’t ruin it. I thought that was a good idea for a first go!
I see you use vegetable oil. I used a mixture of rapeseed and seasame oils which gave a nice taste. 🙂
Hi Simon, I have’nt tried the Fry’s sausages as we don’t have them here, that said the Linda McCartney do a fabulous job with these. Your oil mixture sounds fine. Enjoy ! 🙂
Tried it. Although I didn’t manage to deep fry it, I still liked the taste <3
So glad you made and enjoyed this Fiona ! Cheers ! 🙂
My Son is not keen on sweet n sour flavours but I made this for tonight’s tea. He came back for seconds! but I ate them 🙂 It was absolutely delicious with a perfect balance of sweet n sour. I served it on a bed of brown rice and used tender pieces of seitan instead of the sausages.
Kim Hi there. That sounds perfect and so glad your son enjoyed it too ! Hope you enjoy more of my recipes from here and I look forward to your future comments on my blog ! 🙂
Miriam, I love this sauce. I don’t use the faux meats in this, I just pour over veggies. I am not thrilled with broccoli but I can eat a whole head with this! I saute the veggies pour this over – sometimes plain, sometimes with grains. There is always a mason jar filled in my fridge but it doesn’t last all that long. Thank-you!
Can I use aquafaba instead of Orgran?
Hi Joe – you could certainly give it a try ! 🙂
I made this and it was super yummy! In fact, all your recipes are amazing!
Hey Debbie, so glad you made and enjoyed this, and thanks for your kind words !