In this episode of Pasher Barir Ranna, Doma Wang, chef and founder of The Blue Poppy, the Tibetan restaurant that was originally housed in Sikkim House on Middleton Row in Kolkata, cooks one of her all-time favourites: her take on her father's sweet and sour pork.

This recipe is a classic example of how recipes pass laterally, from family to family, and from one generation down to the next, evolving, branching out and mutating during the course of their lifetimes.

Doma di's father learned this recipe from his Cantonese friend when they lived in Kalimpong during Doma di's childhood. He in turn taught it to his daughter, who modified it to her own taste and passed it on. Far from the "source", its spirit lives on in that the sight of all the juicy vegetables in a sweet-tangy broth inspires wonder and delight even today.

Here, Doma di uses pork shoulder, although pork belly would work too. This can be made with chicken, fish, prawns, or even just the vegetables! If you are making sweet and sour chicken or prawns, you can skip the boiling step altogether and proceed directly with frying.

Doma di says her favourite part about this recipe is not the pork, but the vegetables—cauliflower, cucumber, tomato, pineapple, etc.—and we agree! It is a scintillating sensation to bite into the crunchy, juicy, sour-sweet vegetables.

Doma di likes to keep the sauce quite thin because she serves this with fragrant, boiled short-grain rice. You can make it thicker if you are serving this with noodles or fried rice.

It is a very easy, very quick recipe to make this holiday season!