Sweet and Sour Chicken

 Remember when I made Sesame Chicken at home?  I thought I might not be able to do it again...but I have....  I have created another one of my favorite Chinese take-out dishes, at home!  :)  Yum!
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Sweet and Sour Chicken:
Sweet and Sour Sauce
1/2 lb. Chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
Flour (with a dash of ginger)
1 c. Carrots, sliced
1 Bell Pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 c. (or more) Pineapple Chunks
1/2 Celery, sliced (optional)
Oil
Rice (cooked as per directions)

Here's my trick or coating chicken.

 Once you have dredged your chicken in the flour, heat some oil in a skillet.  Then place the chicken in the preheated skillet and fry until the chicken is cooked through and golden.  Keep your eye on it, and stir gently and frequently.  Once it's done place on papertowels on a plate.

 In a clean skillet place 1 T. oil, pineapple, carrots and peppers.  Add about 1/2 c. water and cook until tender crisp.

 You can at this point either add the chicken and sauce to the skillet and stir, OR just serve it buffet style.  (Which is what I did...I love buffet style for some reason...)

 Layer rice, veggies, chicken, sauce and optionally crispy wonton strips. (see note below)  Also goes really well with my Chicken Pot Stickers.

For crispy wonton strips just use a pizza cutter (or knife) to cut the wonton wrappers into strips.  Then fry for a few seconds each.  Crispy and light little lovely bites!  :)

Chicken Pot Stickers

 Here's a recipe for some yummy pot stickers you can make at home!  :)

Chicken Pot Stickers:
2 c. cooked shredded chicken
1 t. Garlic Powder
1 t. Ground Ginger
40 Wonton wrappers
Water (for sealing wrappers)
Oil (for frying)

First stir the spices into the shredded chicken.

 Then grab one wonton wrapper, place some chicken (about 2 t.) in the middle, moisten the edges and seal.  You can fold it up any of the ways above.  (I tried some of each, and probably preferred the simple triangles because they were easier to know when they were done...)

Heat up a little oil in a skillet on medium high or so.  Once it's heated gently place 5 or 6 in at a time.  Make sure they don't touch.  They fry up pretty fast so keep your eye on them.  After about a minute flip them over. Then after the other side is done, place them on paper towels or a cooling rack to drain the excess oil.  Repeat until all the pot stickers are fried.  (You can keep them warm in a 200 oven--just place a cooling rack in a jelly roll pan in the oven with them on top.)

 Serve warm with something like homemade sweet and sauce.

 And enjoy!  :)

These also go really well with my sweet and sour chicken! :)

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3/4 c. Pineapple Juice
1/3 c. Water
1/3 c. White Distilled Vineagar
1/2 c. Sugar
1 T. Ketchup
Dash Ginger Powder
Dash Garlic Powder
Dash of Red Chili Flakes
2 T. Corn Starch and 1/4 c. Water (for thickening)

Combine everything but the corn starch and 1/4 c. water, in a small saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir together and bring to a gentle boil.  Once it is boiling, whisk the corn starch and water together in a bowl.  Then slowly add some into the saucepan.  Whisk and return to boil for about 2 minutes to see if it if your desired thickness of sauce.  Add more of the corn starch mixture to make it thicker, or add a little water to make it thinner.  (I used the amount listed above-- 2 T. corn starch and 1/4 c. water for mine.)

This sauce goes really well with my Chicken Pot Stickers and Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Sesame Chicken

I'm not going to lie here.  I never pictured myself as someone who would be able to make really great Chinese  food.  I don't know why...but I just really enjoy getting it out and never thought I would be able to come close at home.  Stir fry is one thing...but the dishes like they actually serve at Chinese Restaurants is another.  You know?  Anyway, when I bought chicken on sale this week, I didn't really have lofty plans for it.  Until tonight, that is.  As it turns out, I'm pretty good at making Chinese food....or at least this dish.  :)  So enjoy!!

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Sesame Chicken:
3 T. Sesame Seeds
~1 lb. Chicken Breasts (boneless/skinless)
1/2 c. Flour
2 T. Cornstarch
1/4 t. Baking Soda
1/4 t. Baking Powder
Dash of Soy Sauce
Oil for frying
Sauce:
1 c. Water
1 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Vinegar (Distilled White or other)
1/4 c. Corn Starch
1 T. Soy Sauce
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 t. Ground Ginger

1.  Start by toasting the sesame seeds.  Just throw theme in a small skillet and heat to about medium high.  Swish them around the pan every 30 seconds or so, and soon they'll go from this on the left, to the right.  :)  It only takes about 3-5 minutes.  :)

 2.  In a pan combine all of the ingredients for the sauce.  Then bring to a boil, and stir occasionally.  Set aside.  (Do you like the heart I made in it? :)

 3.  Cut the chicken into 1" pieces, and mix together the flour, corn starch, dash of soy sauce, baking soda and baking powder.  Then toss the chicken pieces in the flour mixture.

 4.  Pour about 1/2" of oil in the bottom of a pan.  Heat the oil, and when it's ready fry the chicken.  Don't crowd the chicken, just do a few pieces at a time.  (You could however do more than this at a time....)

 5.  When the chicken is golden (and done inside) you can set it in a warm oven until the rest is fried.  I placed my chicken on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, so it could drain.

 6.  To serve, I recommend brown rice and broccoli with the chicken, sauce and sesame seeds on top!    You could also toss the chicken in the sauce before serving.  :)

Enjoy!!!!! :)  We sure did!