Sweet and Sour Chicken! About time! Well, for me as it’s one of my favourite Chinese takeaway dishes. Sweet and Sour sauce is a zingy and fruity Chinese sauce made with crunchy vegetables and pineapple as the main ingredients. Sweet and Sour sauces can be made with either Chicken or Pork and eaten with boiled or fried Rice, Chips or Pasta.

As you already know, this recipe is for Sweet and Sour Chicken, though I prefer to use Pork most times. Please try as much as possible to to source most of the ingredients, this way, you’ll be guaranteed to achieve a restaurant style Sweet and Sour Chicken taste. For the pineapple, please ensure you use really ripe and sweet Pineapple and Pineapple juice. You’ll be able to cut down on the Sugar the recipe calls for if you’re able to source sweet Pineapple. An alternative would be to use canned Pineapple as more often than not, they are made with sweet pineapples.

To achieve the signature Sweet and Sour Sauce colour, you’ll need to use red food colouring, trust me, that’s what most takeaways use. I don’t use colouring, I never use food colouring for anything I use Paprika  instead to achieve the colour. I’m stating this beforehand so you won’t come and attack me if your end result doesn’t look like mine, where you’ve chosen to do without Paprika or can’t source Paprika LOL! You’ll still achieve the signature taste though. Another way of achieving the red colour is to use more Ketchup than stated.

Let’s begin….

Ingredients:

750g Boneless Chicken Breast or Thigh

5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

3 Cups Chopped Red, Green, Yellow Pepper Mix

1-2 Big Carrot

80g Cornflour/ CornStarch

60g Plain flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

3 Tablespoons Sugar

2 Teaspoons Soy Sauce

3 Tablespoons White Vineger

125ml Water

200ml Pineapple Juice

1 Knorr Chicken Cube

2 Teaspoons Black Pepper

3 Tablespoons Ketchup

1 Tablespoon Paprika (Optional but necessary to achieve the signature colour)

2 Tablespoons Cornflour/ Cornstarch for the sauce

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Preparation:

Clean your Chicken, then then chop into bite size chunks. Marinate with the Knorr Chicken Cube and Black Pepper. Allow to marinate for at least an hour…
Chop the Peppers, Carrots and Onions and set aside…

Combine the 60gCornflour, the Plain flour, Baking Powder, 1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce, 125ml water, mix thoroughly….

Transfer the marinated chicken into the batter. Leave for 10 minutes…

To prepare the sauce, combine the Vinegar, Pineapple Juice,  Sugar, Paprika, Ketchup, 1 teaspoon Soy sauce and 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch/ Cornflour. Mix thoroughly and set aside..

Get a wok or frying pan, add the oil and place on medium heat, when it’s hot, add the Chicken ( be sure to shake off excess batter), fry till they’re brown on all sides. When they’re cooked, transfer the Chicken onto a paper towel lined plate…

Pour the left over oil into a saucepan, place on medium heat, when it gets hot, add the minced Garlic and Ginger, sauté for a minute, then add the onions. Sauté for another minute, then add the chopped Peppers and Carrots, also add 1 teaspoon Black Pepper and 1/2 Teaspoon Salt, continue to sauté for 3 minutes…

Now, add the sauce mix, stir and combine, leave to simmer for 2 minutes…

Now add the cooked Chicken, combine, leave for 2 minutes, the sauce will begin to thicken at this time…

And it’s done.

See, easy peasy!

Yum!

 

 

 

Now, you can make your own Sweet and Sour Chicken in the comfort of your home. Do leave us a feedback when youve replicated this easy recipe. See you soon!