Sweet & Sour Sauce, Hawaiian style
Sweet & sour
sauce is easy to make, and you can adjust the flavors to your taste.
I do not add sugar to my sauce because I think it tastes sweet enough
without sugar. I can’t give you amounts for the ingredients because
that depends upon how much sauce you are making and what flavors you
like. Consider this more of a guide than a recipe, and make your
sauce the way you like it.
Remember, this is
your sauce, and you will be eating it, so you decide if you want to
make substitutions. You could, for example, leave out the celery or
the onions. I recommend using both, but this is your sauce, so make
it your own. You could use shallots instead of onions, or you could
use broccoli stalks instead of celery. You could even use both celery
and broccoli stalks. The broccoli florets would not work because they
have a texture that you don’t want in this sauce.
Keep tasting the
sauce as you develop the flavors, and make sure that you like it.
Ingredients:
Chopped onion
(I like the sweet white onions, but you could use any onion or
shallots)
Chopped celery
(chop to about the same size as the onion, up to one inch if you
like chewing on some chewy ingredients, smaller if you want a very
smooth sauce)
Chopped
broccoli stalks (optional)
Cooking oil (I
like to use grape seed oil because it does not change the flavor and
it can be used on high heat, but use whatever you like, but not
butter, since butter tends to burn.)
Canned
pineapple chunks (in their own juice, not sugary syrup)
Canned or fresh
pineapple juice (optional, needed for larger batches)
Peach jam or
apricot jam or apricot/peach jam (for orange sauce, used orange
marmalade instead)
Canned water
chestnuts (optional, to add crunch if desired)
Maraschino
cherries (optional)
Soy sauce
Worcestershire
sauce (contains anchovies; for vegetarians, you can use soy sauce
with a little ginger as a substitute, or there are vegan sauces
available)
Lemon juice
Corn starch (if
needed to thicken the sauce; mix with an equal amount of water
before adding to the sauce)
Red pepper
flakes or your favorite hot sauce
Salt
Method:
You can make this
sauce in a frying pan, but I tend to over stir and make a mess all
over the stove top, so I use a deep saucepan. I start by cooking the
onions and celery in a little oil, in a frying pan, and then I
transfer them into a sauce pan. Sometimes I don’t want to wash two
pans, so I fry the onions in the sauce pan.
Put the frying pan
over medium heat. It is hot enough when a drop of water fizzes right
away. I usually get my hand wet and shake the water onto the surface
of the frying pan to test the temperature. Pour in two or three
tablespoons of oil and tilt the pan to spread it around. Add the
onions and stir them gently and constantly. You want the onions to
turn a little transparent. Then add the celery and continue stirring.
These vegetables are going to be boiled in the sauce, so you don’t
need them fully cooked. You are simply getting them hot on the
outside, not browned but somewhat firm. Add a few red pepper flakes
or a dash of your favorite hot sauce and stir well. You are looking
for a little bite, a bit of lift to the flavor, but if you like
really hot sauces, such as Thai sauces, go for it.
Transfer the onions
and celery to a deep sauce pan and place the pan over medium heat.
Add jam and stir to mix it well with the vegetables. Pour in all of
the juice from the canned pineapple and keep stirring gently. If you
are making a large batch, from a pint to a quart, you will need about
8 ounces of jam, and then you will need to thin the sauce with
additional pineapple juice.
At this point, you
need to start tasting. Dip a spoon into the sauce, and let the sauce
run off while you lift out the spoon. When it cools enough to taste
without burning you mouth, taste it. Do this every time you add
another flavor to the sauce. Add the sauces in small amounts. You can
always addmore, but you can’t take it out.
Add soy sauce, stir,
then taste. Add Worcestershire sauce, stir, then taste. Add lemon
juice, stir, then taste. If the sauce seems to need salt, add it now.
Remember, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce are already salty, so
you might not need to add any salt. That is a good reason to taste
the sauce first.
Add the pineapple
chunks and stir them in. Drain the water chestnuts and add them now,
if desired. Stir the sauce until the water chestnuts are mixed in and
covered with sauce. Add a little pineapple juice if desired. You need
to taste the sauce to see if you like the flavor, and you might want
to add more pineapple juice and taste it again. If your sauce seems
too thin, add a little of the corn starch that you mixed with water,
and stir it into the sauce. Add a little at a time, stir it in and
wait to see how the sauce thickens. If your sauce seems too thick,
add more lemon juice or pineapple juice to thin it. Another option is
to add the liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries. Keep tasting as
you add more juice.
Turn off the heat
and wait about ten minutes before dusing a ladle to pour the sauce
over your favorite entrée. Top with maraschino cherries if desired.
Enjoy!
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