Try this out when you next fancy a Chinese Takeaway, you'll save money and probably some calories too!
My partner and I really fancied a takeaway last weekend but at the same time didn’t fancy having too much salt (we all know how you have to drink a tonne of water right after finishing a takeaway to feel normal again!). So instead, I decided to whip up one of our favourites myself - Sweet and Sour Chicken with Egg Fried Rice! It was the first time I've tried making a homemade Chinese, and I can definitely say, it certainly won’t be the last!
The chicken recipe I used was from the BBC website, and it was straightforward to follow! I did make one mistake with the cornflour, however, but it was the kind of error that would only happen to me because, well... I like to rush into things hehe :) - If you were curious to know, I put the cornflour liquid solution (you'll know what this is later) over the chicken instead of using the cornflour right out the box! Nevertheless, it didn’t affect the flavour, I just had to make another liquid solution!
If you don't have a 'safe' and credible gluten-free Chinese takeaway near you, then this recipe is definitely going to fix your sweet and sour craving! Additionally, it's suitable for those watching what you are eating as making it fresh will reassure you of the ingredients used and allow you to keep an eye on the amount of salt you will be consuming.
What you'll need...
½ small pineapple cut into equal chunks
2 chicken breasts cut into equal chunks
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 tbsp cornflour
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
...for the sauce
1 tbsp cornflour
300ml pineapple juice
2 garlic cloves, crushed
25g piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp GF soy sauce
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
To make the sauce, put the cornflour in a bowl and stir in two tablespoons of the pineapple juice until smooth. Put the remaining pineapple juice in a separate bowl and stir in the garlic, ginger, soy, vinegar, sugar, ketchup and chilli flakes until thoroughly combined and set aside until later.
Heat oil in a hot pan and stir fry your onion and peppers over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Coat the chicken in a tablespoon of cornflour (from the box, not the solution) and add to the pan and cook for around 4 minutes until lightly golden on all sides.
Stir in the pineapple and your sweet and sour sauce and cook for approximately 5 minutes until it is cooked through and hot.
Finally stir in your cornflour/pineapple solution and cook until the sauce goes glossy and thick (it shouldn’t take longer than a minute).
Serve with your egg fried rice (recipe below) with added spring onions for a nice crunch!
For the Egg Fried Rice...
Cook your rice as normal and drain.
Fry a chopped onion in some oil until soft.
Add your rice and toast it for a few minutes.
Move the rice to one side of the pan and scramble your beaten eggs in the other.
Finally mix in together and top with spring onion.
I hope you try out this recipe - if you do, let me know what you think! I’d love to know what you miss most from a Chinese takeaway and I’d love to try and re-create it!
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