(Serves 4) Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 15 minutes
I always have traditional ginger beer at hand since I brew the stuff. So I have experimented a lot using ginger beer in cooking. For example, I wondered whether you can you substitute it in a recipe that calls for juice/coke/beer/ginger? It turns out you can!
I love Chinese cooking, having spent time in China and enjoy making various stir-fry dishes. Making a sweet-n-sour sauce with ginger beer is an easy and delicious way to flavour your stir-fry. The ginger beer provides the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness along with a lovely ginger flavour, all complementing a Chinese-style dish. Try this and you won’t have to buy your sauce in a bottle anymore!
You can stir-fry meat and vegetables of your choice in a wok. Thinly cut cabbage, carrots, onion, mushrooms, and pineapple work well for me. Pineapple is really great in a sweet-and sour-dish. I like to include chicken to add more protein. Pork also works well with a sweet and sour sauce.
Recipe for Sweet ‘n sour Chicken and Vegetable stir fry:
3 Chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
¼ white cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots cut julienne
1 Onion sliced
100 g mushrooms sliced
100g pineapple, cubed
Peanut oil for frying
Cooked rice or noodles to serve
Method:
Heat wok over high heat for a minute, then add tablespoon peanut oil (or canola or sunflower oil). Allow the oil to heat up for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken strips and stir fry until the chicken is sealed and just cooked through. Place the chicken on a plate and set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok, and heat until hot. Add the vegetables and cook on high heat, stirring continuously. Cook for about 5 minutes, until vegetables are still slightly crunchy. While the vegetables are cooking, whisk up the sweet-n-sour sauce.
To make the sweet-sour sauce:
1.5 cups ginger beer
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon soya sauce
Method
Mix ginger beer, corn flour and soya sauce in a bowl. Once your vegetables are almost cooked, pour the mixture over the vegetables in the wok. Turn heat down to medium avoid burning, and stir well while continuing to cook. Cook until the sauce thickens (about 3 minutes). Stir in the cooked chicken, then remove from heat and serve immediately with rice or noodles.
Variations:
Pork stir-fry – Replace the chicken with pork.
Or use fine green beans instead of cabbage.