Day 2 - Sweet and Sour

Day 2 of the "love the food you're with" Thrifty July challenge as we try to not spend more than $30 per week on groceries this month. So far the supplies are holding up which means more money left over for WINE.

Sweet and Sour Pork today, from a packet that has been in the pantry for a long, long, long time. I was eagerly anticipating the satisfaction of "using it all up" however I opened the packet to discover TWO sachets of Sweet and Sour sauce mix in there... oh well, it's halfway all used up.

A combination of pork and shrimp for the meat and carrot, onion, red pepper, mushroom and garlic chives stirfryed off with this packet sauce. It calls for pineapple but alas no pineapple in the house. Normally I would have gone to the supermarket especially and got some, probably grabbing chocolate and wine as well, but not this time! We made do and this was more than acceptable by Chef Hubby as he is not a fan of cooked pineapple. So happy times all round.

Overall the flavour was great but the pork wasn't juicy and succulent. Any ideas? Do you normally coat the pork in cornflour, or is it a longer simmering time? The english instructions on the package were a little "lost in translation". (I've just asked Chef Hubby why and he says that normally you coat the meat in cornflour and deep-fry and that will make it juicier.)

So that's a tip for all of us I guess. Tomorrow Chef Hubby is cooking... Japanese "Katsudon".