★★★★★ 2 votes5
Ingredients
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1 lbchicken breasts, boneless
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1 tspginger, finely chopped
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1egg white
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1/2 tspsalt
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2 tspcornstarch
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1/2 cvegetable oil
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6carrots
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12 ozpineapple chunks
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2 tspsherry
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2 tspsoy sauce, light
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1 Tbspvinegar
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1 tspsugar
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1 Tbspcornstarch
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1 tspsalt
How to Make Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Cut up the chicken into bite-sized chunks.
- Combine ginger, egg white, about 1/2 teaspoons each salt and cornstarch and about 1 teaspoon oil.
- Add the chicken chunks and stir until the chicken is well-coated.
- Wash green pepper and discard seeds and stem, cut into strips about 1 x 1/4 inches.
- Peel carrots if they are thick, cut in half lengthwise. Cut diagonally into pieces about 1 inch long.
- Cook the carrots in boiling water for 3-5 minutes, depending how crunchy you like your carrots.
- Drain pineapple chunks, saving about 1/2 cup of the juice.
- Prepare the sweet and sour sauce by mixing sherry, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, reserved pineapple juice, about 1 tablespoon cornstarch and about 1 teaspoon salt.
- Stir well and set aside.
- Heat about 3 tablespoon of oil very hot in a wok or deep cast iron pan.
- Peanut oil is best since it has a high smoking point. Stir-fry the chicken by putting a small batch (e.g., 5 pieces) of the cubed chicken in the wok and stirring continuously until golden brown.
- Remove to a dish. Repeat until all the chicken has been cooked, adding small amounts of oil as it gets used up.
- Heat about 1 tablespoon oil in an empty wok.
- Stir fry the parboiled carrots and the green pepper for 30 seconds.
- Add the chicken and the pineapple chunks to the vegetables in the wok. Stir 1 minute or until well mixed and reheated.
- Add sweet and sour sauce to wok.
- Stir until thickened. Serve with rice.
- I serve this recipe to company all the time and am amazed at how many people don't realize that you can cook Chinese food at home. It is always a big hit. The recipe works equally well with lean pork, tofu cubes, or soy beans instead of the chicken.