This is my second try on a sweet sour sauce. It is way more fruity and works well with tofu as well as meat.

This is the second attempt on sweet sour tofu. The first version is closer to the typical restaurant taste but not as tasteful overall in my opinion.

Ingredients

Base

• 3 big onions
• 3 paprika
• 100g pineapples (canned, without liquid)
• 300g tofu
• 60g starch (to marinade tofu)
• salt & pepper

Sauce

• 3 tbsp pineapple water (from pineapple can)
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
• 2 tbsp apple vinegar
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

Alternatives:

• the apple vinegar does give the sauce a bit more fruitiness. You can substitute it with white vinegar if you don’t have one. I also tried to use only apple vinegar, though the taste was a bit too intense for me
• I also tried to substitute soy sauce with dark soy sauce. This is a bit sweeter I would reduce the sugar by one tablespoon
• replacing the white vinegar with lemon juice does work, though alters the overall feel of the sauce a bit. It is more refreshing and fruity, though it looses the typical sweet-sour taste one might expect. If you replace (parts) of the vinegar with lemon juice you have to increase the amount a bit. (to replace 1 tbsp vinegar use ca. 1.5 tbsp lemon juice)

Instructions

Cut the tofu into cubes and salt them. If you have some, add some MSG for some additional flavor. Afterward roll the cubes in starch. Prepare the sauce and cut the vegetables into bit size pieces.

For this version I decided to deep-fry the tofu. Add about a liter of oil to the wok and heat it to 150 - 160 degrees. Add the tofu and fry it until its golden brown (I added all of it at once, though doing it in two batches might be the better option). Remove them from the oil. If the temperature did not get too hot (and nothing burned) store the oil and use it next time again.

Now fry the vegetables over full heat. Once it gets brown spots add the tofu and the sauce. Stir everything until the sauce thickens in into a thick glaze.

Turn off the heat and serve with rice.

• deep-fry starched main until golden
• remove main
• in some oil fry onions and paprika until they get some colour
• add pineapples, add sauce, add main
• over high heat let it cook until sauce thickens in
• serve with rice

Next Time …

• ~~reduce sugar, in combination with pineapple water 5tbsp was way too much. ~~ Done updated recipe