Lychee Sweet and Sour Sauce

Most sweet and sour sauces have a pineapple base, but I quite like lychees instead.

This provides enough sauce for 4 servings.

Before you start

You will need:

• A small to medium sized sauce pan

Ingredients

• 125ml passata
• 400ml tin lychees in syrup
• 50g molasses, brown sugar or caster sugar
• 50ml Rice Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon Ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice

Instructions

1. Add the passata to the sauce pan on a low heat.
2. Slowly add and mix in the cornflour.
3. Add the sugar and stir in until it has dissolved into the mix.
4. Add the rice vinegar and the syrup from the lychees, along with the ginger and Chinese 5 spice.
5. Chop the lychees in to small pieces and add to the sauce pan.
6. Increase the heat and bring to the boil.
7. Once boiling reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Notes

Sweet or sour: Add more sugar if you prefer it sweeter, add more rice vinegar if you prefer the sour side.

Sauce colour: Molasses will produce a dark rich sauce, the brown sugar or caster sugar will produce lighter sauces.

Thickness: If you prefer the sauce to be quite thick use two teaspoons of cornflour.

Spices: Not all Chinese 5 spice mixes are the same. The name refers to the 5 different types of spice not the number of spices in the mix or a specific selection of spices. You may like to experiment with mixes to find one you quite like. (e.g. Asda Chinese 5 Spice, at the time of writing, does not contain onion or garlic, while others do.)