Please Fave the Original Submission here.

******************************

We welcome to our group with their recipe, see what you think!

******************************

Alright, so I'm gonna show you how to make some super simple, super cheap Sweet and sour + a leftovers recipe to follow up. Now it doesn't look like much from the photo but I assure you it comes out as something pretty sweet.

*This recipe is to taste, so no ingredient measurements are listed, but you can check my story time for the deets on about what I used for 8, 1/3inch cut chops. This recipe also takes about 20 minutes to complete.

Ingredients:

-Pork or Chicken (as much or as little as you need)
-Butter or oil
-Ketchup
-Vinegar
-Soy Sauce (I used China Lily)
-Garlic Powder
-Brown Sugar
-Can of Pineapple (Or canned fruit of your choice.)

Story time:
So to start off my story, my roommate brought home a package of pork-chops and these babies were way way wayyyy to thin to really kinda too dry. I got to thinkin' I could make my own version of sweet and sour pork-- So I started out by lightly frying my pork, you don't have to worry about getting them cooked straight through, but you want to definitely golden up the edges of these babies and drain all the fat away. When they're golden on both sides, you set them on a plate to the side. If you want a finer dish you can always slice the pork into strips instead of cooking the whole chop.

While my pork was frying I got started on my sauce. The sauce is really to-taste so you don't have to worry too much about ingredient measurements-- my one word of caution is be careful when you add the vinegar.
So I started off in a bowl, I added a good large amount of ketchup, I'd say about a cup, added in a splash of vinegar, a splash of soy sauce (I use the china lily fake stuff-- I find that Kikkoman is a bit strong for a sweet and sour--)
I added 1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder. (If you want to fry the pork chops with garlic or garlic powder, that's a good option too. I added a good 3-4 tbsp of brown sugar as well and mixed it together. Then I added a whole can of pineapple juice, and set aside the pineapple chunks for later. If you don't like pineapple canned pears ,peaches, pretty much anything works!

Remember that if your sauce is too light, you can always add some more soy, but it's really to-taste.

Next I put some butter in the pan-- you can use oil if you like. And I gently browned the butter-- when the butter was brown I added the pineapple chunks and browned them as well. Now I drained the pan and put the pineapple back in the pan and add in the sauce, let that simmer, stirring consistently (you don't want it to stick) for 5 minutes. Then you add in your pork and make sure the pork is nestled into the sauce, cover and let simmer for a good 5-10 minutes.

The pork that is dry will remain dry but the fruit is juice and make a nice accompaniment to this dish.



BONUS ROUND:

Sweet+Sour Leftovers

*This recipe takes about 15-17 minutes to complete.

Ingredients:

-Pasta of your choice (or rice)
-Leftovers from above recipe
-Chili Flakes (Optional)
-Sriracha (Optional)
-Tortilla (Optional)
-Veggies (Optional)

Story Time:
Alright, so to use your perfectly delicious left overs to make something even more delicious. If you didn't have your pork cut in strips, I recommend it now. I didn't have any pork left in the pan so this absolutely works if you don't have anymore and you're wondering what to do with all that extra sweet stuff.

Start with your leftover meat/sauce/pineapple in a pan on medium heat, we wanna really heat that bad boy up again. Now this part is optional-- but I like to do it because it changes the dish up a little. When the pan is being heated up I add a good sprinkling of chili flakes and some sriracha sauce. This will give your sweet and sour a bit of heat and bite and really change up the whole dish. When the sauce is hot enough you can turn this down to a low-medium heat.

While your mixture is heating up you should start boiling the water, once it's at a rolling boil-- at this point throw in your noodles-- I used rigatoni, just a cup is enough for me and it's just what I had that was open in the cupboard. It takes about 12-14 minutes for these things to cook well and this is when you want to start preparing your (optional) veggies. I like to cut broccoli real tiny and peel some long slices of carrot-- you can also add mushrooms, peppers-- it really doesn't matter, whatever you have left overs of in the fridge is going to be just fine. At the 6 minute mark for the boiling water you are going to want to add your chopped/sliced veggies to the water as well and let it boil with the pasta. If you are making rice, you may want to omit the veggies or boil em up in a different pot.

When your pasta and noodles have hit that pique and the pastas just slightly bouncy you want to drain that sucker.
Then add the strained contents to your sauce pan, return the pan's heat to medium, coat and cook for another 5-10 minutes in the covered pan.

At this point you're ready to eat. You can serve it as a pasta dish or squish this bad boy into a tortilla for a sweet and spicy wrap. If you have enough you can pre-prepare some snack wraps for work the next day-- they're just as good cold.

******************************

Allergy warning – please read all recipes carefully and be aware of any allergies or sensitivities that may affect your health and well-being