Sweet and sour chicken

 

Sweet and sour chicken

• 4 chicken breasts, cubed
• Garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder)
• Cornflour
• Rapeseed oil
• 100g sugar
• 125ml vinegar
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 65ml orange juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.  Line a baking tray with baking paper or foil (trust me, you will be glad you did otherwise washing up becomes a real chore!).  Place your chicken pieces onto a plate and sprinkle with garlic salt (to taste) and the amchoor powder and set aside.  Heat your oil in a large frying pan (about 1” deep), keep at a medium heat whilst you roll your chicken pieces in the cornflour (shake off any excess) and then fry for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned all over, once cooked remove from the pan and leave to one side.

Mix together the sugar, vinegar, hot sauce, ketchup, soy sauce and orange juice, season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper in a saucepan.  Heat this on a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Lay the chicken out on the baking tray and pour over the sauce.  Bake this in the oven for an hour (turning every 20 minutes) until browned and crispy and serve, it’s as simple as that.

I served this with some rice and an assortment of Chinese appetisers which went down really well.  Trust me, once you have made this dish you will never buy store bought or takeaway again, it is so good.  Whilst the sauce contains chilli sauce it isn’t actually that hot, the orange juice evens out any heat.  The amchoor powder is readily available at most  ethnic supermarkets, that said I haven’t tried the recipe without so I can’t say exactly what flavour it brings to this dish so you may be ok without if you can get hold of it.

Mark’s top tip - To change this up and turn it into chilli chicken chop up some fresh chillies and scatter over the chicken after you have poured on the sauce, that will give a real kick to the dish.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 medium onion cut into 12 wedges
• 2 different coloured peppers, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks
• 225g can of water chestnuts
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
• Freshly ground black pepper
• For the Sauce
• 425g can of pineapple chunks in natural juice
• 2 tbsp cornflower
• 150ml water
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes

Method:

To make the sauce, drain the pineapple in a sieve over a bowl and keep all the juice, you should have about 150ml.  Put the cornflower in a large bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of the pineapple juice to make a smooth paste.  Add the remaining juice and the water, then stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, ketchup and chilli flakes until thoroughly combined.  Set aside.

Cut each chicken breast into 8 or 9 pieces.  Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok and stir-fry the onions and peppers for 2 minutes over a high heat.  Drain the water chestnuts and cut them in half horizontally.

Add the remaining oil and the chicken to the pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes until coloured on all sides.  Add the garlic, ginger, pineapple chunks and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.

Give the cornflour and pineapple mixture a good stir and add it to the pan with the chicken and vegetables.  Stir well, season with some ground black pepper and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 4-6 minutes until the sauce is thickened and glossy and the chicken is tender and cooked throughout, turning the chicken and vegetables a few times.  I served this with some egg fried rice.

This recipe is taken from The Hairy Dieters “How to love food and loose weight” – Each portion has 288 calories and should provide 4 portions.

I had my doubts that this would be as good as my local takeaway, especially when I put all the liquid mix into the dish it just didn’t look right but as you can see from the photo, it all came together and looks just like the takeaway version, but I have to say this had more flavour and for a lot less calories so you don’t have to feel guilty anymore about having the takeaway feeling at home!