I attempted to cook this dish a few times before, but according to my fussy pot, my sweet sour meat is "Not nice. Popo cook nicer." :-(. Problem is, I cooked exactly like how popo taught me! So how come not nice??? *scratch head*
Then, this friend of mine posted this recipe on her blog. Her secret to succulent and tender meat is to tap the slices of meat with the cleaver. Clever ya?
- My family only eats lean meat and so I used lean meat. First I cut the meat to bite-sized pieces (about 2 inch squares). I followed her tip and whacked the pieces of meats without mercy. This step really tenderized the meat and made chewing so much easier for kids.
- Next, I marinated the meat (had time to marinate for 10 minutes only and didn't add cooking wine). I think the egg made the meat really tasty.
- Coated them in cornflour and fried them. After frying, they do looked good enough to eat, isn't it?
- When it's time to mix the sweet & sour sauce, I discovered I do not have any tomato ketchup in my refrigerator... not even the fast food sachet kind. Oh dear... how? Lacking of ingredients often happen in this household :-S. Time to innovate...- I found a can of whole tomatoes. I mixed the whole tomatoes (mashed) and sugar together, but it tasted horrible
- Rummaged the fridge and added a few ingredients *crossed my fingers*. I let the mixture simmer in a separate saucepan until thickens, and guess what? I had a winner sweet & sour sauce!
Accidental Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 can whole tomatoes - mashed
9 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons plum sauce (leftover in the fridge)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
The above is definitely too much for one sweet and sour dish. I spooned the remaining into a Lock & Lock container and put it into the freezer. Now I have sweet & sour sauce ready to use anytime! :-D
I think the plum sauce and lemon juice really turned the canned tomatoes around. They tasted so wonderful together! Just the correct amount of sweetness and sourness! I bet it will taste really great with chili sauce added as well!
So, if you're like me, and find yourself without any ketchup at home, try my accidental sweet & sour sauce. You'll be really surprised with the result. But if you have tomato ketchup, do try Penny's recipe :-).
Here's the final dish, meat pieces, carrot and onions in my accidental sweet & sour sauce (see the bits of mashed canned tomatoes?).
Since I have ready sweet & sour sauce in the freezer now, I cook this dish more often. Tried ma yau fish with tomato wedges (sorry, I already dug half the fish before I remember to snap a photo).
And fried chicken and canned pineapples. Yummy!
My sweet & sour sauce is discovered accidentally, but it really gave a twist to the final dish... slightly different but yummy. My whole family, including my fussy pot loves it.

Admiring the artworks done by the 6 year olds.
HQ’s entry for the 4 year old, which didn’t win a prize. We told HQ “It’s ok, important thing is you participated :-)”. It's now on our refrigerator door.
All the other 4 year old entries.
As everyone waited for their turns to meet their kids’ class teachers, the kids were asked to sit in the main hall, with the television showing last year’s recorded concert. I managed to snap some photos of my kiddos while waiting.
A protective big brother :-D 

HQ is very proud of his meimei :-D 
Sharing his bread, given out by the school, with meimei 

HQ, who normally would have ran around, played chase, and nosed around, was very attentive to his little sister on that day. Hubby and I were amused, tickled and definitely very happy to see him so protective over his little sister :-D.



