Sweet and Sour Chicken

Once upon a time my mom took a Chinese food cooking class. This recipe has become one of our family’s favourites!

It’s one of those dishes that you have to eat as soon as you make it, so make sure everything else is ready to go before you start cooking, because you can’t really be interrupted or it might burn! Trust me on this!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken breasts (or pork) – usually the number of people minus 1

2 eggs

6 Tbsp Flour

Oil

Sauce:

1 C pineapple juice

2 Tbsp ketchup

1-2 Tbsp sugar

1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/4 C vinegar

1 Can pineapple chunks

1 Tbsp corn starch

Chop chicken breasts (or pork) into bite-sized pieces. If I am serving 4 people, I usually cut up 3 chicken breasts (number of people minus one).

Mix eggs and flour until it becomes a thick paste.

Stir in chunks of chicken until they are coated in batter.

In a deep frying pan, wok, or electric frying pan, heat oil. I usually pour enough so it is about 1 inch thick. If there are no allergies, use peanut oil as it smokes less.

Heat oil on medium heat. When it is bubbling drop in a few pieces of chicken. I use long cooking chopsticks, but you could also use a slotted spoon.

Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes, or until batter has cooked and is medium brown. You can use a knife to check if the inside is cooked. You will soon learn what is cooked or not!

When both sides are cooked, transfer the chicken piece to a plate covered in paper towel (to absorb the oil).

Add new chicken pieces to the oil. Keep doing this until all the chicken is cooked.

Sauce:

In the meantime, open a can of pineapple juice. Drain the can into a measuring can. You will need 1 cup. If this doesn’t equal 1 cup, then add water until it does.

Pour into a small pot.

Add ketchup, sugar, soy sauce and vinegar. Add more sugar if you like it sweet!