CHICKEN-SSOUR1(M)        USENET Cookbook        CHICKEN-SSOUR1(M)

EASY SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN

     CHICKEN-SSOUR1 - A nice Chinese dinner you can make at home

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2-3)
     1 lb      boneless chicken breast
     1 tsp     chopped ginger
     1         egg white
     1/2 tsp   salt
     2 tsp     cornstarch
     1/2 cup   vegetable oil (peanut oil is best, but sunflower
               is good too)
     1         green pepper (bell pepper)
     6         carrots
     12 oz     canned pineapple chunks (drained, but reserve 1/2
               cup of the juice.
          SAUCE
     2 tsp     sherry
     2 tsp     light soy sauce
     1 Tbsp    vinegar
     1 tsp     sugar
     1 Tbsp    cornstarch
     1 tsp     salt

PROCEDURE
          (1)  Cut up the chicken into bite-sized chunks.

          (2)  Combine ginger, egg white, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp
               cornstarch, and 1 tsp oil.  Add the chicken chunks
               and stir until the chicken is well coated.

          (3)  Wash green pepper.  Discard seeds and stem.  Cut
               into strips 1x 1/4 inches.

          (4)  Peel carrots.  If they are thick, cut in half
               lengthwise.  Cut diagonally into pieces about 1
               inch long. Cook the carrots in boiling water for
               3-5 minutes, depending how crunchy you like your
               carrots.

          (5)  Drain pineapple chunks, saving 1/2 cup of the
               juice.

          (6)  Prepare the sweet and sour sauce by mixing sherry,
               soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, reserved pineapple
               juice, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, and 1 tsp salt.  Stir
               well and set aside.

          (7)  Heat 3 Tbsp of oil very hot in a wok or deep cast
               iron pan. Peanut oil is best since it has a high
               smoking point. Stir-fry the chicken by putting a
               small batch (e.g., 5 pieces) of the cubed chicken
               in the wok and stirring continuously until golden
               brown. Remove to a dish. Repeat until all the
               chicken has been cooked, adding small amounts of
               oil as it gets used up.

          (8)  Heat 1 Tbsp oil in an empty wok. Stir fry the par-
               boiled carrots and the green pepper for 30
               seconds.

          (9)  Add the chicken and the pineapple chunks to the
               vegetables in the wok. Stir 1 minute or until well
               mixed and reheated.

          (10) Add sweet and sour sauce to wok.  Stir until
               thickened.

NOTES
     Serve with rice.  I serve this recipe to company all the
     time and am amazed at how many people don't realize that you
     can cook Chinese food at home. It is always a big hit. The
     recipe works equally well with lean pork, tofu cubes, or soy
     beans instead of the chicken.

     Don't forget to start cooking the rice so it will be done at
     the same time as the chicken.

RATING
     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 45 minutes.  Precison: measure the
     sauce ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR
     Andy Tanenbaum
     Dept. of Math and Computer Sci., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, HOLLAND
     ast@cs.vu.nl   seismo!mcvax!cs.vu.nl!ast

     Path: decwrl!recipes
     From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
     Newsgroups: alt.gourmand
     Subject: RECIPE: Stir-fried chicken
     Message-ID: 
     Date: 17 Jul 87 06:05:14 GMT
     Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
     Organization: Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Holland
     Lines: 85
     Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP

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