Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Hands up, who doesn’t have some sort of sweet and sour dish when they order a Chinese Takeaway. We love the sweet and sour fish from our local takeaway, however, we used chicked on this occasion.

This is always a dinner winner with kids, we did add some fresh chilli, to zhuzh it up but this is optional!

Give this a go, another great fakeaway recipe, which truly replicates the takeaway flavour.

Cooking surfaces

Wok

BBQ Temperature

200°C

then

200°C

Ingredients

For the Chicken

  • 1 litre vegetable oil
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 3 tbsp cornflour
  • 90g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1.5 chicken breasts

For the Sauce

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped into chunks
  • 1 green pepper, chopped into chunks
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ginger, finely grated
  • 1/3 cup tomato ketchup
  • 1 tbsp malt vinegar
  • 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 1 small can pineapple chunks in juice
  • 1 thai red chilli, deseeded, optional

To garnish (optional)

  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1 spring onion, finely chopped

Equipment

  • The Big Green Egg Wok and Eggspander basket are needed here

Method

To prepare and cook the chicken

  1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 140°C with your Eggspander basket. Preheat your wok and oil to about 180°C.
  2. Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks.
  3. You’re going to need 3 bowls.  Place the cornflour in one, pop the beaten egg in the second and in the third one add the plain flour and spices.
  4. Have a plate to hand to pop the floured chicken on. Dredge the chicken in cornflour, dip it in the egg and dredge in the flour mix.  Place the chicken on a plate.
  5. Add to the hot oil and cook the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes.  Don’t overcrowd the wok.  Cook in batches if in doubt.
  6. Use your Thermapen to make sure your chicken is above 74°C
  7. Remove from the wok and set aside to prepare the remainder of the dish.
  8. Remove the wok from the Egg, you’ll need to remove the oil from the wok before cooking the sauce.

To cook the Sauce

  1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 180°C with your Eggspander basket. Preheat your wok and oil.
  2. Add the onions and fry until translucent, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add the peppers and cook constantly for 1 minute.
  4. Now add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute.
  5. Add the remaining sauce ingredients (chilli is optional) including the juice from the tin of pineapple.  Give it a good zhuzh!
  6. Let the sauce bubble, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened slightly.
  7. Add the cooked chicken back to the wok and toss to coat.  Use your Thermapen to make sure the internal temperature of your chicken is above 74°C before you serve it, 
  8. We like to serve into bowls on a bed of boiled or egg fried rice and finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and some chopped spring onions..
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