A hint of Asian - Sweet and Sour Chicken

On August 5, Dr. Gail on the Today Show discussed what drives people to comfort foods. For me, eating sweet foods, whether it be an ice cream sundae with hot fudge, warm apple pie, or sweet and sour chicken, makes me feel very satisfied :) 

Since last Friday I was craving sweet and sour chicken. My options were to go to Panda Express, get a commercial size bag of sweet and sour chicken from Costco, get a to-go order from our favorite restaurant, ABC Chinese (btw, The Alibi made a mistake by calling me one of the ladies in the photo), or be creative and cook our own chicken and have something to blog about! Actually, my lovely wife made the chicken and I helped make the sauce.



Sweet and Sour Chicken - American style

At most restaurants the sweet and sour sauce is orange and consists of pineapple chunks. We decided to forgo the American sauce and opt for a healthier version. Here is how you make that delicious sauce sans the pineapple and orange food coloring.

1. Pour 3/4 cup sugar into small pot
2. Add 3/4 cup white vinegar into pot
3. Add 1 cup to pot
4. Boil pot ingredients
5. While the mixture starts to boil, in a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1 cup water. Don't make the mistake of adding corn starch directly into boiling mixture or else you'll have big clumps of corn starch floating!
6. Slowly pour and stir the corn starch mixture into boiling pot, this will thicken the sauce
7. If you wish to have a restaurant-style sauce, add a few drops of orange food coloring

To make the delicious chicken, you will need:

• 2 chicken breasts cut into small chunks
• 2 cups flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1.5 cups water
• Salt & pepper (1 Add tsp each)
• Canola oil for frying (enough oil to cover chicken pieces)

To make this great comfort food dish:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the flower, eggs, water and salt/pepper
2. Mix the ingredients together. Add water as needed to make batter thick but not watery, pancake batter consistency
3. Add the chicken and coat all pieces with batter
4. Heat oil in wok
5. Carefully add chicken pieces into oil
6. Remove chicken and place on paper towel to drain excess oil
7. Pour above sauce over the chicken and enjoy!

This was the first time my wife made sweet and sour chicken at home. From this moment on, I will not be eating sweet and sour chicken at restaurants unless one of these conditions are met: I am far from home, my wife isn't home to help me make the chicken, or I am craving sweet and sour chicken so much that I cannot wait the necessary 15 minutes to cook :)