Sweet and Sour Chicken

Every once in a while I get crazy food cravings. We have a Chinese restaurant by our house that delivers (YES! Delivers!) the most amazing and delicious food and I get a hankering for their dishes at least a couple times a month. Unfortunately, this habit can get pretty expensive, so I've been looking for good Chinese food recipes for a few weeks now. I tried out this recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken from Tasty Kitchen on my parents. Everyone loved it! My dad did suggest that I cut out a little bit of the sugar; it was a touch too sweet for him. I will also work on thickening the sauce up too. However, overall, my mom loved it and so did I. I can't wait to eat the leftovers this afternoon!

Because I was feeding so many people, I doubled the recipe in everything except the chicken. I used 5 good-sized breasts instead of 3. I also added a can of pineapple chunks, half an onion, and a red bell pepper cut in chunks.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
*From Tasty Kitchen

3 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
Red bell pepper, cut in bite size pieces
1/2 a white onion, cut in bite size pieces (or larger if you're feeding my dad, so he can easily pick them out . . . )
1 can pineapple chunks, drained of juice

For the sauce:
3/4 cup sugar (next time I will cut this down to 1/2 cup)
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
A few shakes of red pepper flakes

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut up pepper and onion and drain the juice from the pineapple and set aside.

Cut chicken in chunks and season with salt and pepper. Dip in the cornstarch and then the egg. It will be a mess, but it's worth it! Fry the chicken in oil until it's browned on all sides, but not cooked through (about 3 minutes on each side). Place in a single layer in baking dish.

Add the pepper, pineapple, and onion. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over the chicken, pineapple, pepper, and onion.

Bake 1 hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes. Make another batch of the sauce (optional) and bring to a boil on the stovetop. Let this cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened and reduced, about 6-8 minutes. Serve chicken over rice.