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5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 12 reviews

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Note: The entire cooking process until finished dish takes 30 minutes. Plan your cooked rice so it is ready once the dish is complete.

Yield: 6-8 servings
Prep: 45 minsCook: 30 minsTotal: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the sauce

  • 1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks in juice, juice separated from chunks (do not discard juice)
  • 3/4 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch

To coat the chicken

  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch sized pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups corn starch for coating
  • Enough vegetable oil to come a third of the way up a wok or heavy pot

For the remainder of the dish

  • 1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries, juice separated from cherries (but do not discard juice)
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons peanut oil
  • 1 cup carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4 slices cut on the bias
  • 1 1/2 cups onion cut into thick strips (vertical strips)
  • 1 1/2 cups green bell pepper cut into thick strips (vertical strips)
  • 2 cups hot, cooked white rice

Instructions

  1. In a very large bowl, mix the pineapple juice drained from canned pineapple, ketchup, vinegar, both sugars, soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, salt, pepper and the 1 teaspoon of corn starch. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl beat whole egg with egg white then add soy sauce, sugar and salt. Stir to combine then add cut up chicken and swirl around to fully coat.
  3. In a second medium bowl, add the 1 ½ cups of corn starch. Work in batches and transfer chicken pieces from batter to corn starch and coat completely. Remove coated pieces to a platter. Add more corn starch if needed to finish.
  4. Heat wok and vegetable oil to 350 degrees using candy thermometer to maintain that temperature.
  5. Cook in four batches placing chicken in hot oil one piece at a time. Cook each batch four minutes, moving the pieces around as they cook so they don’t stick to each other. Use a Spider Strainer or other kind of strainer to remove to a plate covered in paper towels.
  6. Soon as the chicken drains, add to the large bowl with the sauce. As you finish each batch and drain, again add to the bowl. Set that aside when done and discard the used oil and clean out the wok.
  7. In a small bowl, mix cherry juice with the one tablespoon of soy sauce and set aside.
  8. Heat the wok back up to as high as it will go and add the two tablespoons of peanut oil. Once it starts to shimmer with heat, add carrots and stir fry 2 minutes. Move the carrots to the edges and add onion and pepper. Stir fry that for 4 minutes. Add cherry juice mixture and cook for two minutes almost until the liquid is evaporated.
  9. Add pineapple chunks, cherries and reserved bowl of cooked chicken and the sauce it is in.
  10. Stir and heat mixture to serving temperature and serve with white rice.

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