Sweet and Sour Chicken

Growing up, Chinese food meant poo poo platters, fried rice, chicken chow mein and copious amounts of crab rangoons. I never really ventured outside of these tried and true delicacies until I moved to Boston. Once here, I discovered beef and broccoli, orange chicken, and many other amazing things.

Let's not even get started on the discovery of Thai food.

Chinese food is also something I've never tried to make at home. Unless you count those frozen crab rangoons. I don't, you shouldn't either. You probably shouldn't make those frozen ones either, they are just not good.

But then I found a recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken and knew that it was going to be dinner. The recipe itself was very easy, and the sweet and sour sauce was very good. I made some brown rice to go with it, and it felt like delivery. :) I also had every intention of sauteing some snap peas with garlic and soy sauce to go with it, but I was too hungry and forgot. Oops.

Also, I should be able to work my camera now. we'll see what happens with the next post!

For now, an Instagram picture:

 

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Recipe adapted from here

For the chicken:
3-4 boneless,skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tbs canola or vegetable oil

For the sauce:
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup ketchup
1 cup white vinegar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cube chicken into large bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Toss the chicken pieces in cornstarch and then coat with the egg. (Trust me.)
4. Heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the chicken, turning it so that all sides are browned. (Just browned nicely - it will finish cooking in the oven)
5. Place the chicken in a single layer in a 9×13 baking dish.
6. Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and reserve about 1/2 cup and pour the rest of the sauce evenly over the chicken. Turn the chicken to coat each piece.
7. Bake for 1 hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.
8. Reduce the remaining sauce in a small pan over medium heat. Use reduced sauce for serving and serve with rice and veggies!