Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ok, so whenever Greg and I get Chinese, for as long as we've been together, we ALWAYS both order Sweet and Sour Chicken. Well, #1) the only 2 Chinese places within 20 miles of us (one way) were way overpriced for the amount you get. (Oh, how we miss the Chinese place in Havelock that delivered!) And, Greg wasnt crazy about their sauce (he's really picky about sweet and sour sauce.) #2)We really don't have the money to be getting takeout, even if it IS a good price. But, for some reason lately, I've reallyyyy been craving it.

So, I decided to go Keri style :) and try to make it myself. I found a couple recipes online, one calling for flour and one calling for cornstarch, and I didn't know what the difference between the two would do to the chicken, so I decided to call my culinary friend Kat, who ended up giving me her recipe from when she was in school. Here it is. :)

Vegetable oil, for frying

Cornstarch

Chicken, cut into 1" cubes (I used 3 breasts, and still had leftover batter, so if you only want a little, you could cut the recipe down accordingly)

4 eggs, scrambled

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup flour

5 oz cornstarch (just over 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp baking powder

salt, nutmeg and pepper to taste

9 oz water (just over 1 cup)

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet to frying temperature. Kat told me when you sprinkle a little flour in the oil and it starts to crisp, it's just right.

Mix the last 7 ingredients to form a batter. Roll chicken pieces in the extra cornstarch to lightly coat, then dip in batter, then place in frying pan. There should be enough oil in there to at least mostly cover the chicken. Let it sit for a minute or two to crisp up the bottom, then flip and do the same to the other side. I then placed the finished chicken on a plate with paper towel to at least soak up any excess oil.

As far as the sweet and sour sauce goes, I just bought "La Choy" sauce, because the ingredients are all normal, and I figured I'd try one thing at a time. First, I did the chicken, and maybe one day I'll try the sauce.

Anyway, the chicken was AWESOME. The outside was exactly like at a chinese place and it actually had better flavor, probably because it was a better quality chicken. (Greg mentioned that at least we know for sure that it's not cat.)

So if you like sweet and sour chicken, I definitely recommend this recipe! YUM!