Sweet and Sour Chicken
MEDIUM 45 MINUTES
• 2 large pieces chicken breast
• ¼ green bell pepper
• ¼ red bell pepper
• ¼ onion
• 2 slices pineapple (fresh or can)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 5-7 tbsp water (start with 5 tbsp, add more water if the batter is too thick. If the batter is too watery, add more flour)
• 1 tsp oil
• 5 tbsp ketchup
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp red vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp water
TIP
To keep the chicken somewhat crispy — Don't mix chicken in the sauce. Keep the sauce separate. Cook the sauce and the vegetables, serve them in a separate dish. Take a piece of chicken and dip it to eat.
Chicken can be freezed up to 3 months.
When you want to serve this dish, thaw chicken for about 1 hour at room temperature. Refry chicken, serve with vegetables and sweet and sour sauce.
1 Cut bell peppers, onion and pineapples into bite size pieces.
2 Clean chicken and cut into ½ inch cubes. Marinate chicken for 10 minutes.
3 Make batter. Place batter into chicken. Mix well. Make sure each piece is coated.
4 Heat about 8 oz oil in a pot to fry chicken. Oil temperature should be at around 350F for the first fry. If oil temperature is too high, turn off heat for a while and add in some room temperature oil to lower the temperature.
5 Drop chicken one piece at a time into the oil carefully. Keep frying chicken with medium heat, moving around with chopsticks to make sure each piece is separate and cooking evenly. After 2-3 minutes, or when chicken starts to turn golden, place chicken on a plate, set aside. Chicken is cooked if it can be easily pierced through.
6 Scoop out remaining bits of batter in the oil.
7 Turn heat high to keep the oil at 390F for the second fry of the chicken. Fry for about 30 seconds. Turn off heat, take chicken out and set aside. The second fry can be done just before serving to keep chicken crispy.
8 ** Double frying technique - the first fry is for cooking meat thoroughly at a lower temperature. The quicker and hotter second fry is for expelling the moisture in the fried batter to maximize crispiness.
9 Put 1 tbsp oil in the pan. Stir fry bell peppers and onion for 30 seconds, take out for later use.
10 To make sweet and sour sauce — add sauce to the pan, turn heat to medium low. Stir the sauce when it starts to boil. Add half of the cornstarch water to thicken the sauce.
11 Add peppers and onion. Mix well. Add the remaining cornstarch water to desired consistency. Turn off heat. Add pineapples and mix in with everything.
12 Pour sweet and sour sauce on top of chicken. Dish up.