Tonight’s dinner was another one of Jessica’s.  Without further ado…

Sweet and Sour Chicken (from My Kitchen Cafe)

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup cornstarch

salt & pepper

1/4 cup canola oil (I used olive oil)

Preheat oven to 325.

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Coat chicken in egg and then in cornstarch. Pan fry in oil until golden brown, but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. 

Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon garlic salt (I used garlic powder)

Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken. Bake chicken for 6o minutes, turning every 15 minutes. You can also make extra sauce – add all ingredients to a saucepan and simmer until thick.

Ta-da!

The result?  This belongs in a Chinese take-out container.  It was that good. 

If you like Chinese food, I suggest you try this dish.  If you claim to love Chinese food, I demand you try this dish. 

Colleen, this means you.

This dish tasted indulgent.  Except… it came from my kitchen!

Make this.  You’ll thank me. 

Lloyd gave this a double thumbs up.  Looks like he’ll keep me around another night.

I liked this meal because it’s another “pantry staples” type dish.  The only thing I needed was the cornstarch!  This was a unique item to cook with.  I’ve never used it before… I was in awe of how it felt on my fingers.  At first I wondered if I should have made this healthier by using whole wheat flour, but after tasting it, I believe the cornstarch makes this meal a rock star. 

After a quick Google search, I’m finding all kinds of information telling me to use “cornstarch alternatives.”  Oh well.

I started rattling off what I would do to improve this dish next time.  He responded with, “Or how about you just cook it like this, because it’s fine?” and I said, “You know nothing about cooking.”

To which he retorted, “You know nothing about food.” 

Right.

Because I want to share my modifications with you, here we go.  I added these guys to the dish after steaming:

I also tossed in some water chestnuts, for crunch!

I subbed Splenda for the sugar.  It helps keeps the calories/sugars low.  This is a personal preference as my body reacts negatively to sugar so I try to limit my intake where possible. 

I would suggest doubling the sauce… there was plenty of flavor, but the sauce amount seemed small in comparison to the dish.  But as Lloyd said, it tasted fine as it was!