Is sweet and sour sauce vegan?!
Is sweet and sour sauce vegan?
the kind you would get from a take away chinese restaurant. I would like to get vegetables with sweet and sour sauce for a wee change but I am wondering if the sauce would be vegan.
Answers:
Hammer&Drill told you wrong, obviously he or she is not a vegan (or vegetarian for that matter).
DO NOT USE WHITE SUGAR, IT IS NOT VEGAN!
White sugar is bleached using charred animal bones.
they are made from yellow beans.
Check that there isn't any gelatine in it...
I am not sure check the ingredients http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1846,134...
In the fast food places they probably have a quick way of making it since it comes with nearly every dish.
should be but could be gelatine added, just ask at hte restaurant, they will be honest!!
While most of us are familiar with sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour sauce is used to flavor a number of stir-fried meats, such as beef and chicken. It also makes an excellent dipping sauce. The "sweet" in sweet and sour sauce comes from either white or brown sugar. As for the "sour," this is achieved by adding vinegar. More authentic recipes generally call for either rice wine - such as Shao Hsing - or rice vinegar. Made from a combination of glutinous rice, millet, a special yeast, and local mineral water, Shao Hsing rice wine tastes like dry sherry. By contrast, rice vinegar is made from fermented rice and is sweeter than regular wine vinegar. A few recipes call for Chinkiang vinegar - a black vinegar with a distinctive flavor named after a city in eastern China. Ketchup is commonly used to give sweet and sour sauce its unusual color.
There's nothing wrong with varying the quantities of sugar and/or vinegar in the recipe to either increase or reduce the sweetness of the sauce. In fact, differences in the flavor of sweet and sour dishes are found throughout China, with Cantonese dishes tending to be sweeter than those found in other regions. Below are some recipes for you to try.
Sweet and Sour Sauce - can be poured over a dish or used as a dipping sauce
Sweet and Sour Vegetables
From Rhonda Parkinson,
Your Guide to Chinese Cuisine.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
This quick and easy sweet and sour recipe uses frozen Oriental vegetables and a sweet and sour sauce made with pineapple juice, brown sugar, and rice vinegar.
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 1/4 cups (approximately) frozen Oriental vegetables
* Sauce:
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
* 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup pineapple juice
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* Other:
* 1 tablespoon oil for stir-frying
* 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
PREPARATION:
Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Heat the wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the frozen vegetables. Stir-fry until tender but not overcooked. Add pineapple chunks and sauce, giving sauce a quick re-stir.
Cook until thickened and serve hot. Serves 3 - 4, as part of a multicourse meal.
Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Sauce - Chinese cooking
From Rhonda Parkinson,
Your Guide to Chinese Cuisine.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Yields about 1 1/4 cups
Note: This recipe is designed for use with Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Spareribs, which already has cornstarch and water added as a thickener. If you are preparing this recipe as a dip, add a cornstarch/water mixture as desired to thicken.
If you are not preparing this for a vegetarian dish, you can use regular Worcestershire Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
* 1 cup white vinegar
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon ketchup
* 1 tablespoon vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce (such as Lea & Perrins vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
PREPARATION:
Combine the ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring.
I hope this helps you make your mind up, if you are not sure of your Chinese take away's recipe, you could make your own and add to their or your own vegitables.
I'm an ovo-lacto-vegetarian, but I can attest that the vegans I know will not go near white or brown sugar. There is a kind of sugar found in mexican markets that is in the shape of a cone, and is made from sugar cane juice that is sun-evaporated, not heated by flame. This is the only kind of sugar my vegan friends will tolerate. Otherwise they use honey for sweetening. Apple cider vinegar and honey make a good sweet/sour sauce, you could thicken it with arrowroot or cornstarch.
sainsburys sell a really nice one thats vegan