JOYEATSRAMEN – Simple Asian Food Recipes

An easy, zesty sweet and sour chicken recipe, perfect to be paired with a bowl of rice.

Why you will love this recipe

I will share my secret to a non-soggy sweet and sour chicken with the iconic pairing, bell peppers.

You will also learn how to make the sauce from scratch. The sauce tastes exactly the same as the stir fry (dai chao) Chinese restaurants I grew up eating in Malaysia and Singapore.

The soul of this dish, sweet and sour sauce has a long history with the earliest recordings in 烧尾宴菜单 (Shaowei banquet), a food menu served during the Tang Dynasty in China.

Today, you can find this versatile sauce, paired with different proteins and various cooking techniques around the world.

Ingredients you need for sweet & sour chicken

Sauce

• 4 tablespoons of ketchup
• 6 tablespoons of mirin (4 tablespoons of sugar)
• 1 dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons of lime
• 80 grams of water

Chicken Marinate

• 1 pack of chicken fillet cubes (300 grams)
• 2 tablespoon of shaoxing wine
• 2 dashes of salt
• 2 dashes of black pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour (or corn flour)
• 1 tablespoon of frying oil

Side Dishes

• 2 bell peppers
• 1/2 onion (feel free to add more according to own preference)
• 4 cloves of garlic

Cooking Steps

Step 1: Chicken marination

Prepare a bowl and filled with chicken fillet cubes.

Marinate the protein with two teaspoons of shaoxing wine (rice wine). This is to tenderise and add flavour depth to the chicken.

Next, sprinkle two dashes of salt and black pepper each.

Add an egg and stir evenly.

Finally, add two tablespoons of all purpose flour or corn flour.

Once the chicken has been coated with flour, add a tablespoon of frying oil to bind the mixture together.

Marinate the chicken for 10 minutes before frying them.

Step 2: Chop up greens and prepare sweet & sour sauce

While the meat marinates, chop up the following items:

2 bell peppers in square cubes

4 cloves of thin sliced garlics

1/2 thin sliced onions

Step 3: Fry the marinated chicken fillet cubes

Heat up a frying pan with oil.

Slowly include the chicken cubes into the pan and fry each side for 4 minutes.

Once both sides are fried with beautiful brown crisps, set them aside and prepare to stir fry side dishes.

Step 4: Stir fry onion and garlic

Set the same pan in high heat and stir fry the onion for one minute.

Add in garlic and continue to stir fry both ingredients continuously for one minute.

Step 5: Stir fry the bell peppers

Add in bell peppers and stir fry with the onion and garlic for 3 minutes.

Step 6: Include sweet and sour sauce to the pan

Set the pan to low heat, pour in the prepared sweet and sour sauce.

Step 7: Include flour and water mix to the pan

Immediately include the pre mixed flour and water to the pan.

The mix is 2 tablespoons of flour and 80ml of water.

Mix evenly for 30 seconds or less.

Step 8: Add chicken back to the pan

Continue to set the pan in low heat and add protein back to the pan.

Stir everything quickly and evenly for less than one minute.

It is key to remain the pan in low heat to avoid drying up the sauce and keep the chicken crunchy.

Finally, serve up the authentic sweet and sour chicken, and enjoy it with a bowl of warm rice.