Keltin's Sweet and Sour Chicken

Keltin

Keltin

New member
Here is my rendition of Sweet and Sour chicken that you can get from the Chinese buffets.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

3 Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups water

1 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Sugar
2 oz Honey

Procedure

In a medium sized bowl, mix the ketchup, vinegar, sugar, and honey. Whisk until smooth and all ingredients are incorporated. Cover and set aside.

In a another bowl, add the flour. Season the flour with your favorite seasonings. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, five spice, etc. Add the water and stir. You want a runny batter, slightly more runny than pancake batter. Keep adding water until you get a loose batter.

Cut the chicken into 1” cubes and set aside. In a large skillet or wok, add enough oil to be 1” deep. Heat the oil over medium-high heat to 375 (f) degrees. Skewer a chicken cube with a toothpick and then submerge it into the batter. Remove from batter and shake off as much excess as possible. Push the battered chicken off the toothpick and into the oil. Fry until the batter is golden brown and the chicken is done – about 5 to 6 minutes. Once done, remove to a paper lined plate to cool and drain. Repeat until all chicken is fried.

Plate the chicken and drizzle the sauce over it, or serve the sauce on the side. Serve with fried rice and Vegetable Mai Fun.

Notes

This fries up and looks just like the chicken you get at the Chinese buffets. The sauce tastes EXACTLY like the red sauce you get at the buffets. I actually got the recipe for the sauce from an Alton Brown episode, but I add a little more honey than he does. When frying the chicken, try to get as much excess batter off as possible. The batter puffs up rather nicely, so if you have too much on the chicken, you’ll get a lot of dough around your chicken.
 
I made this again tonight, so here are some pics. I used milk in the batter instead of water tonight. I also added some Paprika which gave the batter a little color.

A word of warning – buy the best ketchup you can for the sweet and sour sauce! It does make a difference. Also, watch your oil temp. Try to keep it around 350 or so. If it gets too hot, the batter browns too fast and won't "crisp" and is instead soggy. If your's are too soggy, bake them in a 350 degree oven on a cookie sheet lined with paper or paper towels for 5 - 10 minutes. Don't worry about the paper! Paper doesn't ignite until 451 (F) degrees. Now the pics.

First, use a skewer to dip the pieces in the batter, and shake off the excess.
2hyh3l5.jpg


Fry the battered pieces and let them drain.
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Plate and serve!
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Last edited:
Maverick2272 said:
Yum, looks exactly like the stuff I love!
Click to expand...

Here ya’ go Mav, just for you.
2w3dmqg.jpg


You can actually make this less labor intensive by placing all the chicken in the batter and then picking it out with your hands quickly and dropping it in the oil. You tend to get more batter on the chicken this way (meaning puffier pieces), so I opted for the skewer method for prettier pictures. But practically, I’d suggest just putting it all in the batter and using your fingers. Much faster and still yummy!
 
Thanks dude!

I learned the finger method when I worked at a Chinese restaurant when I was in high school long long ago in a far far away gal..er place... LOL.
One warning: Do not, and I mean DO NOT splash the oil!! OUCH!! You have to get real close to the oil quickly and kinda roll them off your fingers into the oil moving quickly around the pan so that if you splash your fingers and hand have moved away already...
I still have some of those scars...... LOL.
 
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