In the past, I made sweet and sour pork, and it has always been a crowd pleaser. My family loves it. Really, it tastes much better than those sold outside, which is hard and always coated with so much flour, and with very little meat, and the meat is often fatty, and soaked in overly salty and starchy gravy. Sounds familiar? Recently, I ate sweet and sour chicken at the Lao Huo Tang at Great World City Food Court. It was not bad, but too salty and the ingredients were pretty little. So I told myself I need to go back and recreate this dish.
I've not cooked sweet and sour pork for quite a long time, so I was quite worried if I would succeed. Also, I used to cook with the help of my previous helper, but this time, I was going to do it alone, so I didn't know if I could handle it well. Previously, I bought the pork from NTUC, and it's labelled as Sweet and Sour Pork, so I knew that's the right type of pork meat to be bought. This time, they didn't have it at NTUC. I didn't know if lean pork or shoulder butt would be tender enough. Anyway, I wanted to try out chicken. So I was deciding between chicken breast and chicken fillet, and finally decided to use chicken fillet, as I believed it would be tender and soft. When I opened the packet of chicken fillet, it was really nice and soft, and i wondered if i still had to marinate it with egg or not. Anyhow, I decided to do so, since the original recipe with pork required egg. I'm not sure if there'll be much difference without the egg. But since egg is so readily available, I decided not to take the risk.
I put quite a lot of vegetable (green and yellow capsicum, tomato, cumcumber, diced pineapple, garlic, onion) into this dish to make it a complete and wholesome meal. You can adjust the amount of vegetable on your own, and also decide what to include and what not.
The sauce initially looked quite a lot (a bit liquid), but turned out quite alright, as it served as gravy for the rice. After a while, it also seemed absorbed into the ingredients. If increasing amount of meat, can keep sauce amt same, or increase just a little. Initially, the sauce also tasted pretty sweet, but after a while, after it was absorbed into the food, it seemed ok, though next time, I may try reducing the sugar a little. (or maybe a didnt' level the measurement.)
Ingredients
300g chicken fillet, cubed (to increase to 350g next time) (used pork shoulder butt, ok but a lot of fats which I had to remove, so more difficult to cut into cubes, used 425g but because remove fats might be left with are 360-380g meat)
Yellow and green capsicum, diced (to increase amt, and to weigh next time) (1/2 each of medium size, 100-120g)
1 medium sized tomato (or 2 small tomatoes) (1 big or 2 small - medium)
1/2 average sized cucumber, diced (to weigh next time) (~200g, but can increase to 300g coz they like cucumber)
4-5tbps canned diced pineapple (did 5tbsp of s&w diced pineapple, abt 4cubes each spoon, can increase to 6 tbsp) cut into smaller pieces
1 or 1 1/2 cup canola/sunflower cooking oil (1 1/2 small bowl)
Marinade for chicken fillet
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 egg, beaten
Dash of pepper
Coating for chicken fillet
7-8tbps Kentucky powder (8tbsp)
7-8tbps corn flour (9 tbsp)
Can try next time 10 tbsp corn flour n 7 tbsp Kentucky powder
Sauce
6 tbps tomato ketchup (8 tbsp coz increase meat)
3 tbps sugar (3.5 tbsp sugar, can reduce to 3, coz still pretty sweet)
4 tbsp hot water (5 tbps)
1/2 tbps light soya sauce
Tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
-Cut chicken fillet into cubes. Try to make sure that they are of similar size, to ensure even cooking.
-Marinate it for at least 30min, in fridge. Can be longer if desired. (In mywoklife, she marinated from morning till evening.)
-Mix the Kentucky powder and corn flour in a big bowl.
-Add oil to wok, and heat up over medium heat till very hot. Ensure that the oil is sufficient to cover fully 1/2 batch the chicken pieces. The frying of the chicken will be done in 2 batches.)
-While waiting for oil to heat up, coat each chicken piece evenly. Ensure that it is well coated. But shake off excess. Do for 1/2 the batch.
-Once oil is heated, quickly add the coated chicken pieces. (If wait too long, the chicken marinate will soak through the coating, and you'll need to coat with more corn flour.)
-Keep heat on medium, and fry till golden brown. This will take abt 5-6min.
-Drain off the oil, and place fried chicken pieces in a bowl lined with kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
-Repeat for 2nd batch.
-Store the used oil for future re-use.
-Wash and dry wok.
- Add 1 tbsp canola oil. When hot, add garlic and stir fry till fragrant (but not brown). Add onion and saute till fragrant, and very lightly brown.
-Add the vegetable and stir fry for 2 min on medium heat.
-Add the sauce.
-Add the chicken pieces.
-Mix well and medium high heat for 1 min, or until sauce thickens a little.
-Serve with warm rice.
I've not cooked sweet and sour pork for quite a long time, so I was quite worried if I would succeed. Also, I used to cook with the help of my previous helper, but this time, I was going to do it alone, so I didn't know if I could handle it well. Previously, I bought the pork from NTUC, and it's labelled as Sweet and Sour Pork, so I knew that's the right type of pork meat to be bought. This time, they didn't have it at NTUC. I didn't know if lean pork or shoulder butt would be tender enough. Anyway, I wanted to try out chicken. So I was deciding between chicken breast and chicken fillet, and finally decided to use chicken fillet, as I believed it would be tender and soft. When I opened the packet of chicken fillet, it was really nice and soft, and i wondered if i still had to marinate it with egg or not. Anyhow, I decided to do so, since the original recipe with pork required egg. I'm not sure if there'll be much difference without the egg. But since egg is so readily available, I decided not to take the risk.
I put quite a lot of vegetable (green and yellow capsicum, tomato, cumcumber, diced pineapple, garlic, onion) into this dish to make it a complete and wholesome meal. You can adjust the amount of vegetable on your own, and also decide what to include and what not.
The sauce initially looked quite a lot (a bit liquid), but turned out quite alright, as it served as gravy for the rice. After a while, it also seemed absorbed into the ingredients. If increasing amount of meat, can keep sauce amt same, or increase just a little. Initially, the sauce also tasted pretty sweet, but after a while, after it was absorbed into the food, it seemed ok, though next time, I may try reducing the sugar a little. (or maybe a didnt' level the measurement.)
Ingredients
300g chicken fillet, cubed (to increase to 350g next time) (used pork shoulder butt, ok but a lot of fats which I had to remove, so more difficult to cut into cubes, used 425g but because remove fats might be left with are 360-380g meat)
Yellow and green capsicum, diced (to increase amt, and to weigh next time) (1/2 each of medium size, 100-120g)
1 medium sized tomato (or 2 small tomatoes) (1 big or 2 small - medium)
1/2 average sized cucumber, diced (to weigh next time) (~200g, but can increase to 300g coz they like cucumber)
4-5tbps canned diced pineapple (did 5tbsp of s&w diced pineapple, abt 4cubes each spoon, can increase to 6 tbsp) cut into smaller pieces
1 or 1 1/2 cup canola/sunflower cooking oil (1 1/2 small bowl)
Marinade for chicken fillet
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 egg, beaten
Dash of pepper
Coating for chicken fillet
7-8tbps Kentucky powder (8tbsp)
7-8tbps corn flour (9 tbsp)
Can try next time 10 tbsp corn flour n 7 tbsp Kentucky powder
Sauce
6 tbps tomato ketchup (8 tbsp coz increase meat)
3 tbps sugar (3.5 tbsp sugar, can reduce to 3, coz still pretty sweet)
4 tbsp hot water (5 tbps)
1/2 tbps light soya sauce
Tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
-Cut chicken fillet into cubes. Try to make sure that they are of similar size, to ensure even cooking.
-Marinate it for at least 30min, in fridge. Can be longer if desired. (In mywoklife, she marinated from morning till evening.)
-Mix the Kentucky powder and corn flour in a big bowl.
-Add oil to wok, and heat up over medium heat till very hot. Ensure that the oil is sufficient to cover fully 1/2 batch the chicken pieces. The frying of the chicken will be done in 2 batches.)
-While waiting for oil to heat up, coat each chicken piece evenly. Ensure that it is well coated. But shake off excess. Do for 1/2 the batch.
-Once oil is heated, quickly add the coated chicken pieces. (If wait too long, the chicken marinate will soak through the coating, and you'll need to coat with more corn flour.)
-Keep heat on medium, and fry till golden brown. This will take abt 5-6min.
-Drain off the oil, and place fried chicken pieces in a bowl lined with kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
-Repeat for 2nd batch.
-Store the used oil for future re-use.
-Wash and dry wok.
- Add 1 tbsp canola oil. When hot, add garlic and stir fry till fragrant (but not brown). Add onion and saute till fragrant, and very lightly brown.
-Add the vegetable and stir fry for 2 min on medium heat.
-Add the sauce.
-Add the chicken pieces.
-Mix well and medium high heat for 1 min, or until sauce thickens a little.
-Serve with warm rice.
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