Sweet and sour cheese

(serves about 2-3 people)

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
150ml vegetable stock or water
260-280g can pineapple pieces in juice
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp vinegar
1 level tbsp cornflour
120-150g hard cheese, cut in 1cm cubes (vegan if required).

Method:
Put the carrot pieces in a pan with the stock or water, and cover. Simmer for about five minutes. Add the pineapple, including the juice, with the garlic, tomato ketchup. Blend the vinegar with the cornflour in a small bowl, then stir into the pan slowly. Bring to the boil, stirring well, until thickened - this takes about 2-3 minutes. 

Remove from the heat, and stir in the cheese. Serve at once with rice.

-----

This might sound like a strange combination, but we have eaten it regularly for some years, and like it very much. If you like the sweet-and-sour taste (not everybody does) it's definitely worth trying, in my view. The quantities are quite flexible, depending on taste, and you could miss out the garlic entirely if preferred. However it's best to keep the ratio of cornflour to vinegar. 

If you don't have tomato ketchup, you can use a tbsp tomato paste and a teaspoon of sugar instead. I use my home-made tomato ketchup.  If you can't find the smaller cans of pineapple, or prefer to buy the more economical large ones, use half of a 450g can. You can freeze the other half for future use. 

It's a quick and easy light meal, suitable for vegetarians if you use a cheese such as cheddar or mozarella (rennet-free if necessary).  Since going dairy-free, we used a bought vegan cheese which is primarily coconut oil. The consistency of this is good, and the sweet-and-sour taste makes it quite palatable. But there's very little of nutritional value in the hard vegan cheeses we can buy in Cyprus. So I would serve this with peas, and perhaps other cooked vegetables, to supply at least a small amount of protein.

But more recently I started making a cashew-based hardish 'cheeze' which works extremely well in this. It increases the nutrients significantly, and reduces the ultra-processed ingredients which, unfortunately, are often added to vegan products.