Sweet and Sour Chicken

I decided it was time for some more homemade Chinese food, and realized I hadn't tried homemade sweet and sour chicken yet.  It's one of my favorite take-out choices, though I can't even recall the time I picked up Chinese food.  I've been enjoying cooking too much to order from restaurants.



I knew I could use the same cornstarch slurry to coat the chicken as I used in the General Tso's Chicken recipe I posted a while back, but for the sauce I found a simple sweet & sour sauce recipe to try.

First I cubed the chicken, then mixed together the cornstarch breading by combining cornstarch, egg, and soy sauce.  I heated some oil in a cast iron skillet and began to fry the pieces.

I fried the chicken over medium heat until it was browned on both sides.

In a small saucepan, I combined the sugar, water, vinegar, soy sauce, and cornstarch, then heated on medium until the sauce started to boil.  I lowered the heat to let the sauce simmer, and stirred it until the sauce thickened.

I served the chicken over some white rice and covered it all in the sauce.

This turned out to be a sweet, tasty sauce that went great with the chicken and rice.  When I've ordered Sweet & Sour Chicken at restaurants, the sauce is usually a very bright pink, so I was mildly concerned that the sauce turned out a darker color.  The flavor was unaffected by the color because it really tasted like the real deal!  Even though my husband and I demolished the chicken, I saved the sauce to use again because it was too good to just throw away.  I saw some recipe variations that called for rice vinegar, so I may try that next time around just to see what kind of a difference it makes.  Two thumbs up on this one.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

For the chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1 cup cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil

For the sauce:
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions:

Cut chicken into cubes, then mix egg, soy sauce, and cornstarch in a large bowl. The mix will be very thick and have a putty-like consistency. Fold chicken piece into mixture to coat and then use a fork to remove. Allow excess to drip and then fry chicken over medium heat in oil until browned. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, vinegar, soy sauce, and cornstarch, then heat to simmer, then lower heat to boiling. Lower heat and simmer until thickened.