I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. It looks
like recipes use brown sugar and others don't. Also, I'm
toying with the idea of actually just making the sweet and
sour stuff separate from the chicken and then just pouring
it over it in the end. Is that good or bad? I'm going to
use boneless chicken breast, so I thought I'd just cut it
thin, batter it, and roast it in the oven.

Thanks, Michael

Zspider wrote:
> I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
> several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
> and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. It looks
> like recipes use brown sugar and others don't. Also, I'm
> toying with the idea of actually just making the sweet and
> sour stuff separate from the chicken and then just pouring
> it over it in the end. Is that good or bad? I'm going to
> use boneless chicken breast, so I thought I'd just cut it
> thin, batter it, and roast it in the oven.
>
> Thanks, Michael

I use honey, not sugar, in my S&S and a mixture of wine and cider
vinegar -to taste. Best I have found for this is fireweed honey. Substitute
your favorite.
Chicken responds nicely to lemon or orange flavoured sauce. the bake and
pour method is fine.
Regards.
Ken.
--
http://www.rupert.net/~solar
Return address supplied by 'spammotel'
http://www.spammotel.com

Zspider wrote:
>
> I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
> several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
> and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. It looks
> like recipes use brown sugar and others don't. Also, I'm
> toying with the idea of actually just making the sweet and
> sour stuff separate from the chicken and then just pouring
> it over it in the end. Is that good or bad? I'm going to
> use boneless chicken breast, so I thought I'd just cut it
> thin, batter it, and roast it in the oven.
>
> Thanks, Michael

This is a recipe for sweet and sour sauce given to me by a Chinese
neighbour (after we worked out the measurements LOL):

1 onion cubed
1 sweet red pepper, cut into dice
2 spring onions, sliced
2/3 cup Chinese pickled cabbage or mustard greens (the sort preserved in
brine)
1 cup clear rice vinegar
1 1/4 cups pulverised Chinese rock sugar (white sugar works too)

1/4 cup cornstarch

Stirfry the onion, pepper and spring onions. Add the pickles and mix.
Add the rice vinegar and sugar on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring
to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and add to the sauce. Cook until
thickened.

Add the fried chicken (or pork) pieces to sauce and reheat.

Zspider wrote:

> I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
> several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
> and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. It looks
> like recipes use brown sugar and others don't. Also, I'm
> toying with the idea of actually just making the sweet and
> sour stuff separate from the chicken and then just pouring
> it over it in the end. Is that good or bad? I'm going to
> use boneless chicken breast, so I thought I'd just cut it
> thin, batter it, and roast it in the oven.


Don't bother with the oven, cook the chicken very quickly on the stovetop,
e.g. stir - fry. Boneless chicken breast is notorious for very quickly
becoming dry and stringy, so don't overcook it!

Glad you brought this up because I'm making s&s chicken this Friday, I'm
having a few friends over to help do some holiday decorating. I'll have
fried rice (or "lice" as Sheldon calls it) and some egg rolls, too.

I'll be brining my chicken for a day or so, one of the ingredients of my
brine is a packet of Knorr tamarind soup base (it's from the Philippines),
gives a nice sour taste. For a similar taste effect you can use a citrus
juice, grapefruit is good...

I'm making the sauce separately, and I'll be using pineapple juice as the
"sweet", it's a recipe from the 1975 version of the _Joy Of Cooking_, there
are many others, Arri's in this thread is a good basic one...

The pineapple chunks will be added with the other vegetables at the end of
the cooking...

For a garnish with the chix I'll be stir - frying some garlic and some
crushed peanuts...


--
Best
Greg

In article >, Arri London
> wrote:
>Zspider wrote:
>> I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
>> several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
>> and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. [...]
>
>This is a recipe for sweet and sour sauce given to me by a Chinese
>neighbour (after we worked out the measurements LOL):
>
>1 onion cubed

Cor blimey, mate, I'm told mathematicians are still trying to square
the circle and you've managed to cube an onion!

>1 sweet red pepper, cut into dice

Aren't dice cubes too?

>2 spring onions, sliced
>2/3 cup Chinese pickled cabbage or mustard greens (the sort preserved in
>brine)
>1 cup clear rice vinegar

What about those higher alcohol Chinese rice "vodkas" such as Shiwan
Rice Chiew? At 29% alcohol by volume it must be good for something --
though reviews suggest it's not much good for drinking. See:
"Shrine to Spirits - Chiew and Soju"
<http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/chiew.html>

>1 1/4 cups pulverised Chinese rock sugar (white sugar works too)
>1/4 cup cornstarch
>
>Stirfry the onion, pepper and spring onions. Add the pickles and mix.
>Add the rice vinegar and sugar on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring
>to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
>Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and add to the sauce. Cook until
>thickened.
>
>Add the fried chicken (or pork) pieces to sauce and reheat.

Sounds pretty good. I might try it. Thanks.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

Phred wrote:
>
> In article >, Arri London
> > wrote:
> >Zspider wrote:
> >> I'm wanting to try sweet and sour chicken. I've collected
> >> several recipes to work from but would appreciate your recipes
> >> and suggestions. There are so many ways to fix it. [...]
> >
> >This is a recipe for sweet and sour sauce given to me by a Chinese
> >neighbour (after we worked out the measurements LOL):
> >
> >1 onion cubed
>
> Cor blimey, mate, I'm told mathematicians are still trying to square
> the circle and you've managed to cube an onion!
>
> >1 sweet red pepper, cut into dice
>
> Aren't dice cubes too?

You aren't a gamer are you LOL?
>
> >2 spring onions, sliced
> >2/3 cup Chinese pickled cabbage or mustard greens (the sort preserved in
> >brine)
> >1 cup clear rice vinegar
>
> What about those higher alcohol Chinese rice "vodkas" such as Shiwan
> Rice Chiew? At 29% alcohol by volume it must be good for something --
> though reviews suggest it's not much good for drinking. See:
> "Shrine to Spirits - Chiew and Soju"
> <http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/chiew.html>

Too expensive to use in a recipe like this plus they aren't sour which
rather is needed in a recipe called 'sweet and SOUR'
>
> >1 1/4 cups pulverised Chinese rock sugar (white sugar works too)
> >1/4 cup cornstarch
> >
> >Stirfry the onion, pepper and spring onions. Add the pickles and mix.
> >Add the rice vinegar and sugar on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring
> >to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
> >Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and add to the sauce. Cook until
> >thickened.
> >
> >Add the fried chicken (or pork) pieces to sauce and reheat.
>
> Sounds pretty good. I might try it. Thanks.
>
> Cheers, Phred.

It's so much better than the awful red stuff that happens in American
Chinese restaurants. My neighbours had no idea it was supposed to be
sweet and sour sauce!
>

Thanks for all the great suggestions for sweet and sour chicken! The
wife
and I cooked it up tonight and it was excellent. We boiled the liquids
for
the sauce in one pan, and I sauted the chicken and all the vegetables
in
a very hot frying pan. We used pineapple, snow pea pods, green onions,
and a fat red bell pepper, and served it all over minute rice.
Store-bought
eggrolls completed it. I didn't bother with breading the chicken, just
stir-
fried it a little like someone suggested.

Michael

Thanks for all the great suggestions for sweet and sour chicken! The
wife
and I cooked it up tonight and it was excellent. We boiled the liquids
for
the sauce in one pan, and I sauted the chicken and all the vegetables
in
a very hot frying pan. We used pineapple, snow pea pods, green onions,
and a fat red bell pepper, and served it all over minute rice.
Store-bought
eggrolls completed it. I didn't bother with breading the chicken, just
stir-
fried it a little with the vegetables and then poured it all into the
sauce.

Michael