All right, I'm a day later than I thought I'd be, but here we go.
In case anyone else wants to play around with it, I started with two recipes (
1)(
2) and sort of mixed and matched the parts I liked best from each. Then I modified a few of the ingredients and added some other vegetable options based on previous cooking experiments.
Now, I generally tend not to fry much and I usually reduce or just leave most oil out of the foods I make, so to begin with, I don't actually bread or deep fry the chicken I use in the recipe. That being said, if you want to do so, the original recipes have that covered. The chicken tastes just fine all by itself in the sauce, though.
Ingredients in bold are deviations from the original recipes.
2 tablespoons sunflower oil2 teaspoons hot chili sesame oil2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces1 1/2 cups brown sugar1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar1/4 cup dry sherry
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 dried whole red chilies, or to taste
- alternately, red pepper flakes or cayenne2 tablespoons ginger, or to taste
(fresh usually goes to waste in my fridge, so I usually just use dried powder)cornstarch (see below)
fresh ground pepper (just a dusting, not much)
chopped green onions*
baby carrots (sliced or whole)*broccoli florets*snow peas*
Directions
Heat oils in a large saucepan or wok to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Carefully drop the pieces of chicken into the hot oil one by one, cooking until the chicken turns golden brown, about 3 minutes.
As the chicken cooks, combine the sugar, vinegar, sherry, soy sauce, garlic, dried chilies, ginger, and (optional) ground pepper with the chicken. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce thickens to the consistency of light pancake syrup (about 3 minutes). Cooking the sauce in the same pan as the chicken will allow the chicken to soak up some of the sauce.
As the chicken nears completion, add vegetables to the pan/wok. Continue cooking until onions begin to turn translucent. (You sort of have to use your best judgement on when to add the vegetables. If you're cooking in a wok, this is easier since you can move anything that finishes early to the outside and keep the part that still needs to continue cooking in the center.)
Assuming the sauce is pretty much a thin liquid at this point, mix some cornstarch and water in bowl, cup, whatever - just not directly in the pan. Once the cornstarch mixture is smooth, slowly stir it into the sauce in the pan. Add a little at a time and stir in completely. If the sauce is still liquid, add a bit more. The sauce should be ready when it begins to cling to the chicken and vegetables.
Remove from heat.
I usually serve this either with steamed or fried rice (with more veggies), but it's pretty good all by itself, too.
* I tend to just use whatever vegetables I have around at the time, but if I plan ahead, I like to include all of the vegetables I have listed above. You may substitute or add any other veggies as suits your individual taste.
