Recipe for "chicken-ssour1"

NAME

     CHICKEN-SSOUR1 - A nice Chinese dinner you can make at home

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2-3)

     500 g     boneless chicken breast
     5 ml      chopped ginger
     1         egg white
     2.5 ml    salt
     10 ml     cornstarch
     12 cl     vegetable oil (peanut oil is best,  but  sunflower
               is good too)
     1         green pepper (bell pepper)
     6         carrots
     350 g     canned pineapple chunks (drained, but  reserve  12
               cl of the juice.
          SAUCE
     10 ml     sherry
     10 ml     light soy sauce
     15 ml     vinegar
     5 ml      sugar
     15 ml     cornstarch
     5 ml      salt

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Cut up the chicken into bite-sized chunks.
          (2)  Combine ginger, egg white,  2.5  ml  salt,  10  ml
               cornstarch,  and 5 ml oil.  Add the chicken chunks
               and stir until the chicken is well coated.
          (3)  Wash green pepper.  Discard seeds and  stem.   Cut
               into strips 3 cmx5 mm.
          (4)  Peel carrots.  If they  are  thick,  cut  in  half
               lengthwise.  Cut diagonally into pieces about 3 cm
               long. Cook the carrots in boiling water for  3 - 5
               minutes,  depending how crunchy you like your car-
               rots.
          (5)  Drain pineapple chunks, saving 12 cl of the juice.
          (6)  Prepare the sweet and sour sauce by mixing sherry,
               soy  sauce,  vinegar,  sugar,  reserved  pineapple
               juice, 15 ml cornstarch, and 5 ml salt.  Stir well
               and set aside.
          (7)  Heat 50 ml of oil very hot in a wok or  deep  cast
               iron  pan.  Peanut oil is best since it has a high
               smoking point. Stir-fry the chicken by  putting  a
               small  batch (e.g., 5 pieces) of the cubed chicken
               in the wok and stirring continuously until  golden
               brown.  Remove  to  a  dish.  Repeat until all the
               chicken has been cooked, adding small  amounts  of
               oil as it gets used up.
          (8)  Heat 15 ml oil in an empty wok. Stir fry the  par-
               boiled   carrots  and  the  green  pepper  for  30
               seconds.
          (9)  Add the chicken and the pineapple  chunks  to  the
               vegetables in the wok. Stir 1 minute or until well
               mixed and reheated.
          (10) Add sweet and  sour  sauce  to  wok.   Stir  until
               thickened.

NOTES

     Serve with rice.  I serve this recipe  to  company  all  the
     time and am amazed at how many people don't realize that you
     can cook Chinese food at home. It is always a big  hit.  The
     recipe works equally well with lean pork, tofu cubes, or soy
     beans instead of the chicken.
     Don't forget to start cooking the rice so it will be done at
     the same time as the chicken.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 45 minutes.  Precison: measure  the
     sauce ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Andy Tanenbaum
     Dept. of Math and Computer Sci., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, HOLLAND
     ast@cs.vu.nl   seismo!mcvax!cs.vu.nl!ast