sweet + sour.

Tonight I made sweet and sour chicken for dinner. A little warning: lots of prep! It took well over an hour from start to finish, and I learned that when adding cornstarch to water, add slowly and stir like crazy. The first attempt resulted in big clumpy cornstarch that I fished out before starting over.

I even made my own sweet and sour sauce. (It's so easy! I'll probably never buy it in a bottle. It's just water, sugar, vinegar, and pineapple juice and cornstarch.) In case you didn't know, sweet and sour sauce isn't naturally orange. You're supposed to add orange food coloring. I didn't have any, so we had translucent sweet and sour sauce. Tasted great.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

• 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained (juice reserved)
• 2 green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 2 drops orange food color
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 cups water
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, vinegar, reserved pineapple juice, and orange food coloring. Heat to boiling. Turn off heat. Combine 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; slowly stir into saucepan. Continue stirring until mixture thickens.
2. Combine flour, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, salt, white pepper, and egg. Add 1 1/2 cups water gradually to make a thick batter. Stir to blend thoroughly. Add chicken pieces, and stir until chicken is well coated.
3. Heat oil in skillet or wok to 360 degrees F (180 degrees C). Fry chicken pieces in hot oil until golden. Remove chicken, and drain on paper towels.
4. When ready to serve, layer green peppers, pineapple chunks, and cooked chicken pieces on a platter. Pour hot sweet and sour sauce over top.