Monday, March 30, 2009

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Pineapple & Red Onion

This is a really good dish that I found at My Kitchen Cafe. I couldn’t find the scallions so I used green onions. I cut the red onion into fairly small pieces to hide it a little from picky kids.
¾ lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breast, cut into uniform pieces
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice vinegar
2 - 3 T. canola oil
1 med. red onion, peeled and cut into thin strips
1 (20-oz.) can pineapple tidbits or 2 cups fresh pineapple cut into wedges
3 med. scallions, green parts cut into ¼-inch lengths and white parts minced
1 T. minced garlic
1 T. minced fresh ginger
Sweet and sour stir-fry sauce (recipe below)
Toss the chicken with the soy sauce and vinegar in a medium bowl; set aside for 15 minutes, tossing once or twice.

Heat a 12- or 14-inch skillet over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes (the pan should be so hot you can hold an outstretched hand 1 inch over the pan for only 3 seconds.) Add 1 tablespoon oil and swirl it so the oil evenly coats the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil until it just starts to shimmer and smoke. Check the heat with your hand as before.

Drain the chicken and add it to the pan. Stir-fry until seared and about three-quarters cooked, 2 ½ to 3 minutes. Scrape the cooked chicken and all of the liquid into a bowl. Cover and keep warm. Let the pan come back up to temperature, 1 to 2 minutes. When it is hot, drizzle in 2 teaspoons oil. When the oil just starts to smoke, add the onions and stir-fry until just tender-crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the pineapple and cook 1 minute. Add the scallion greens and cook 15 to 30 seconds.

Clear the center of the pan and add the white parts of the scallions, garlic, and ginger. Drizzle with ½ teaspoon oil. Mash into the pan with the back of a spatula. Cook until fragrant but not colored, about 10 seconds. Remove the pan from heat and stir the scallions, garlic, and ginger into the vegetables for 20 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and add the cooked chicken. Stir in the sauce and stir-fry until the ingredients are well coated with sauce and sizzling hot, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with rice.
Sweet and Sour Stir Fry SauceI doubled the sauce recipe and used half apple cider vinegar and half rice vinegar in place of the red wine vinegar. I used canned pineapple so I reserved the juice to use in this sauce.

3 T. red wine vinegar
3 T. sugar
1 ½ T. tomato sauce
1 ½ T. pineapple or orange juice
1/4 t. salt

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

2 comments:

  1. this sounds yummy! I am finally visiting from the UBP. Thank for visiting my blog. I am just starting to venture into the blogging world and can't wait to keep up with some new friends!

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  2. Sounds yummy. I'll have to just fix that for dh and myself. I have too many picky kids.

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