sweet and sour chicken

I have been in a Chinese food mood lately. I got beef fried rice from my favorite place yesterday, and in the last week I made both beef and broccoli and sweet and sour chicken. While Ed didn't like the beef and broccoli much, he LOVED the sweet and sour chicken. His response to this meal was "I love your blog."

Usually I tell people that you can use either flour or cornstarch for thickening, but you HAVE to use cornstarch for this. It's the binder that gives this meal it's crispiness, as well as it let's the sauce really stick to the chicken.

I didn't get a shot of the chicken in oil getting it's crispy outside, but you don't need to cook the chicken completely through- you're just trying to get a nice crunch.

While the chicken is in the pan, mix up the saucy magic. As usual, mason jars make an excellent mixing containers.

Pour the saucy magic over the chicken and pop in the oven! Be sure to toss and stir this in the oven every 15 minutes during the cook time in the oven so the sugars don't burn too much.

Oh yea. That's the stuff.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Original recipe can be found at Joyously Domestic!
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup corn starch
Salt and Pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake
Sesame seeds

Preheat oil in a sauce pan over medium heat and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken into 1 inch chunks. Place corn starch, salt and pepper and diced chicken into a 1 gallon plastic ziplop bag and shake to toss. Using a slotted spoon, shake of excess cornstarch and place chicken in a shallow baking dish. Coat chicken in beaten eggs and toss to coat. Cook chicken in the oil for 2-3 minutes on either side. While chicken is cooking, mix together sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic salt and red pepper flake. Using a slotted spoon, transfer fried chicken into a greased baking dish. Coat chicken with 3/4 of sauce mixture. Cook in oven for 45 minutes, stirring ever 15 minutes. Pour excess sauce onto chicken when done. Serve over hot white rice. Enjoy!