SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN

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You will have tasted it from the takeaway but it’s far better at home. This is a real classic to have up your sleeve and whilst it’s super easy its impressive enough to share with guests. Some authors say that the original sweet and sour sauce came from the Chinese province of Hunan, but the sauce in this area is a light vinegar and sugar mixture not resembling what most people, including the Chinese, would call sweet and sour. Many places in China use a sweet and sour sauce as a dipping sauce for fish and meat, rather than in cooking as is commonly found in westernized Chinese cuisine.

Ingredients

5ml Rapeseed oil
100g cooked Brown rice
50g Butternut squash
80g Chicken breast (diced)
100g Peppers
5g Ginger
2 garlic cloves
40g Water chestnuts
1 Spring onions
60g Pineapple chunks (fresh)

For the sauce
3g Soft light brown sugar
10ml White rice vinegar
10ml Rice wine
10ml Soy sauce
200ml Vegetable stock
5g Tomato purée
4g Cornflour (and water to mix the cornflour)
1g Salt/Cracked Black Pepper

Method

1. De-seed and dice the peppers into 2cm pieces

2. Peel and dice the butternut squash, garlic and ginger

3. Drain and slice the water chestnuts

4. Cut the spring onion into 2.5cm pieces

5. Cube the peeled pineapple

6. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the chicken, peppers, ginger and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes

7. Add the water chestnuts, spring onions, butternut squash and pineapple and fry for about 30 seconds

8. Add all the sauce ingredients and bring to the boil

9. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 6 minutes

10. Check for taste and flavour, if required add salt and pepper to taste

11. Serve with cooked brown rice

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