Non-Battered Sweet and Sour Chicken

Non-Battered Sweet and Sour Chicken

There's Hall and Oats, autumn and Pumpkin Spice Latte, fedoras and lonely nights, sweet and sour. Some combinations are just natural.

The object of much Chinese take-out mockery, "Sweet 'N Sowa" chicken is the quintessential non-Asian Asian dish. It's as American as saggy jeans and saluting the stars and stripes on the Fourth of July while Katy Perry calls you a "firework".

But you can make this dish LESS American. You can take out unneeded calories and perhaps scoff at Paula Deen if she ever deemed to make Chinese food.

Baby, you don't need to deep fry.

The tomato puree in the sauce turns this dish into an adequate representation of the glowing red ooze with neon yellow pineapple chunks monstrosity that made the dish famous.

But maybe that's not enough. Maybe you need to go more nuclear. Maybe your sweet and sour chicken needs to glow with the fire of 1000 suns about to go supernova. Maybe you need an extra night light in your kitchen. Just add two drops of red food coloring, like the professionals do.

Flavor MVP: rice wine vinegar, not as acid as regular vinegar and cuts the sweetness just right.

• 1 - 1 1/2 lb chicken breast, thin strips
• 2 green peppers, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-7 Thai chili peppers, minced
• 2 tbl ginger, minced
• 20 oz pineapple and juices
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tsp water + 3 tsp corn starch
• 5 tbl tomato puree
• 3 tbl rice wine vinegar
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• white pepper, to taste
• soy sauce, to taste
• fish sauce, to taste
• msg, to taste
• garlic salt, to taste

chicken marinade:

• 5 tbl soy sauce
• 3 tbl light brown sugar
• 2 tbl honey
• 1 tbl chilli powder
• 4 cloves garlic, minced

1. Marinade chicken 1 hour or over night in fridge.

 

2. Fry up oil, and chicken until a little brown, sprinkle a little old bay if wanted, set aside.

 

3. Add more oil, then garlic, then ginger, chilli, onions, then green and red peppers.

 

4. Add pineapple and juice, chicken broth, vinegar and stir.

 

5. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic salt, msg to taste.

 

6. Stir in tomato puree and lemon juice.

 

7. Stir in corn starch mixture until thickened enough.

 

8. Add chili powder and white pepper to taste and cook for another minute.