There was a time when I start to daydreaming about food early in the morning, this not like my usual cravings day when I just cravings for some chocolate or a scoop of ice cream. At this certain times, I will think about food with more specific flavour, aroma, colour or texture. Like this morning, I think about sweet and sour chicken with the sourness of orange juice instead of pineapple.
I’m not sure about what causes this feeling or what the trigger, it happens randomly. Sometimes it happens when I feel so happy, or too excited about something, or even when I feel bored. And I can’t solve this sweet and sour chicken with taking away or eating out, because I want my fried chicken still juicy, and nicely coated in orange sauce, not in the thick gloopy sauce, and a slight heat from the ginger. So the only way to solve this problem is to get busy in the kitchen, and trying to fulfil my obsession.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
I like to use chicken thighs to make this sweet and sour chicken because I like the texture, and it juicier than chicken breast, but you can use chicken breast if you want a healthier version, or even combine chicken thighs and chicken breast. For the sauce, I use freshly squeezed a mandarin orange, and mix it with lemon juice for more kick of sourness. You can add more or less orange juice depending on your liking.
Ingredients
- 250g boneless and skinless chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite-size chunks
- 60g cornstarch
- 1 egg white from a large egg
- salt and pepper
Sweet and Sour sauce
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon chilli sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
- salt and sugar, to taste
Direction
- Cut chicken into bite-size chunks. In a bowl combine the chicken with salt, pepper, egg white, and cornstarch. Stir to coat the chicken evenly, let it sit for about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine all the sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a medium bowl, except grated ginger, and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in large wok over high heat, swirl the wok to coat. Add chicken cubes, and spread the chicken. Fry the chicken until the bottom is golden brown, or for about 1-2 minutes. Flip the chicken and fry for another 1 minute until the chicken browned and crisp. Transfer the chicken out on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.
- Heat the same wok that you use to fry the chicken over low heat. Add grated ginger and fry for 30 seconds, -if you use bell pepper and scallions add it at this time and cook for about 1 minute- add the sweet and sour sauce mixture. Turn up the heat and cook until the sauce simmering, and slightly thickened, add the chicken pieces. Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes until the chicken cooked through. Add salt and sugar if needed.
- Serve the sweet and sour chicken immediately over a bowl of warm rice.
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