Sweet and sour vegetables with pork

There it is! The other half of the pineapple, and I kept my promise to post soon! Lots of colour, lots of crisp veggies and a little bit of meat. It's usually the other way around in these kind of dishes but I just happen to love the colours and soft crunch. It made me feel very adequate, adding all these vitamins and fibers to the kids diet. Although I'm not complaining, they do eat a fair amount and all kinds of vegetables. Granted, I frequently found myself in a clash of wills, losing my patience more than once in the process of teaching them to eat -almost- everything. "Yes this is good. It's red but it's good. Sure you can eat red vegetables." Aaargh!! (Beetroot, cabbage).

For this dish I used the fresh pineapple cubes that were not used here and the juice I saved. However, there's no problem with using canned pineapple.

Sweet and sour vegetables and pork

approx. 8 ounces pineapple in cubes

1/2 cup syrup / pineapple juice

1 Tbs corn starch

1-2 Tbs plum sauce/tomato ketchup

2.1/2 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs vegetable oil

10 ounces lean-er pork in thin slices

1 Tbs vegetable oil

2-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large carrot, in slices

1 medium onion, in thick slices

1 red bell pepper, cubed

1 small cucumber, halved, deseeded, in thick slices. No need to peel when the cucumber is young.

cherry tomatoes... 5? 10? Whatever you like

For garnish: dry roasted cashew nuts and cilantro!!

(there's a hole in my brain that hides the translation of cilantro. In Dutch it is called koriander, in English it's called coriander as well for the seeds but cilantro for the leaves?)

In a small bowl mix syrup with cornstarch, add plum sauce, (or ketchup if you can't find any, it's different but will do) fish sauce and sugar to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the pork until it's coloured, use a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate with kitchen towels to get rid of excess fat/oil.

Add oil if needed and fry garlic, when that has colored add carrot, onion, bell pepper and fry for another 2 minutes.

Tip in cucumber, pineapple, tomato. Stir fry for another 2 minutes, adjust with salt and pepper and add the sauce. Quickly bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the meat again, warm and serve immediately, garnish with cilantro. Yum!!