I love a classic sweet and sour sauce. This is my staple recipe and it’s very versatile. You can add whatever ingredients you like – try sweetcorn, mushrooms, courgettes or tofu – but here I have opted for the sweet and fruity meatiness of jackfruit, seitan, fresh pineapple, crunchy peppers and water chestnuts. This is one of my go-to mid-week suppers and is excellent with jasmine rice.
DETAILS
- Serves 4
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger, grated
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 400g can jackfruit pieces, drained and chopped into 2.5cm chunks
- 100g seitan pieces, drained, sliced into 2.5cm chunks
- 1 tbsp Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into 1.5cm pieces
- ½ small pineapple, peeled, cored and diced into 1.5cm cubes
- 225g can water chestnuts, drained, whole or sliced
- ½ 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- small handful of roasted salted cashew nuts
- 1 spring onion, trimmed and finely sliced
- cooked jasmine rice, to serve
For the sweet & sour sauce:
- 150ml pineapple juice
- 1 tbsp tamari or low-sodium light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp golden syrup
- ½ tsp sriracha
METHOD
- In a small jug, whisk together all the sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Heat a wok over a high heat. When the wok starts to smoke, add the rapeseed oil. Once hot, add the ginger and chilli, frying for a few seconds to release their flavour. Add the jackfruit pieces and cook, tossing, for a few seconds. Add the seitan and stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the Shaohsing rice wine or sherry, pepper, pineapple, water chestnuts and chickpeas and toss together for 1 minute, until the peppers are
- slightly soft but still crisp.
- Pour over the sauce and bring to the bubble. Add the cashew nuts and toss well to coat all the ingredients in the sauce.
- Scatter over the spring onions and serve immediately with jasmine rice.

Recipe adapted from Asian Green by Ching-He Huang (Kyle Books, £20). Photography by Tamin Jones.

