Simple Sweet and Sour Sauce

(adapted from "Chinese Cookbook" by Kiko Kay who taught Chinese cooking to Marine Corps wives in Okinawa)
Here's a great dish that will let you slip that brown rice into the diet:

1/2 cup sugar
1 Tb soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tb red wine vinegar
1/2 cup pineapple juice
4 Tb catsup
1/2 cup water
3 Tb cornstarch

whisk together in saucepan, bring to boil (stirring often), boil and stir for one minute

great for dipping and as a vehicle for all sorts of veg and meat choices over rice (lower heat to medium and add other ingredients as suggested below)

notes:
easy to double, can freeze half for another day.


to make Sweet-n-Sour Chicken:
prepare about one generous cup each of about 6 items to feed a family of 4, use more items and/or larger amounts in a double batch of sauce to feed 8-10 (you can choose familiar things for kids or get adventurous):

-chunks of cooked chicken ("saute"  thawed chicken breast covered in non-stick pan with slight drizzle of oil just til done, add juices to sauce)
-thinly sliced carrots (precook slightly along with onion, microwave two minutes)
-chunks of onion (one large)
-diagonally sliced celery
-3/4 inch chunks green pepper
-pineapple chunks
          you can stop there for a perfectly good, economical dish or keep going......
-broccoli florets (precook in microwave slightly unless you like it very crunchy)
-sugar or snap peas - broken or cut in half
-baby corn
-bean sprouts
-sliced water chestnuts
-red pepper
-summer squash
or whatever you have or that is in season or that your kids like! Try to keep a good mix of color and to make the pieces as much the same size as you can, although since you can adjust cooking times by adding each ingredient when you want, this is mostly for looks and not worth getting too fussy about.



Whatever you choose to use, you can stir it all in right after the sauce gets its boil, or if some of your vegetables need more than warming up, you can add them first and give them time to simmmer in the sauce -  but always add green things very last even if you must pre-cook broccoli separately, because the acid in the sauce will kill the bright green after a few minutes.

You can feed a good-sized family plus a couple of missionaries with a double batch filled with veggies and chicken over rice. Or use meatballs - out of the freezer if you are very efficient (to save a lot of time and trouble, you can put the meat mixture in a flat baking dish and cut into squares with a pizza cutter and bake for "meatsquares" - when browned, drain and then freeze spread on a cookie sheet and gather into freezer bags so you can take out just what you need)

You can use this as a way to rotate canned chunk chicken from your food storage. If you had frozen some sauce and some rice, had a can of baby corn, some frozen broccoli or snap peas and a few carrots in the fridge, you're on your way to a super-easy dinner much tastier than store-bought canned oriental meals.

You've pretty much covered your whole need for fruits and veggies so just serve with some whole wheat bread and butter, maybe a cabbage wedge if you like or sliced tomato on lettuce.