Sweet and Sour Chicken

I really should be doing Primary stuff, but this Sweet and Sour Chicken is on the brain. I used to make it quite often back in my single/no kids days, but hadn't made it for years. My kids were grumpy because they were too sick to go Trick-or-Treating last night, so I asked them what I could make for dinner that would make them happy. They said "Chinese food", so I thought of this recipe. Man, I forgot how good it is! YUM. It's kind of a lot of work, but last night I made the sauce way ahead of time and just kept it warm on the back burner. I used my rice cooker to make a big pot of rice, which took all of 1 minute to prepare. Then while the rice was cooking, I fried the chicken. It really wasn't too bad, and totally worth it. As good as any take-out. Here ya go.

Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. rice vinegar (unseasoned) or white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup pineapple juice (save from a large can of pineapple)

Mix together cornstarch and sugar in saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine. Cook over medium heat until bubbly and clear, stirring constantly. Keep warm until needed.

Chicken:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
1 to 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small chunks (1" square-ish)
2 1/2 cups oil for frying

Mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add water and stir until smooth. Mix cubed chicken into batter, stirring to coat each piece well. Heat oil until a drop of batter floats to the top and cooks quickly when dropped in. Add the chicken, cooking a few (6-8) pieces at a time. Don't crowd the pan, or the temperature of the oil will drop and it will take too long too cook and the batter will soak up too much oil. Yuck. It should take 3-4 minutes per batch for them to be a nice golden brown and cooked all the way through. Be sure to cut into a piece to make sure the chicken is completely cooked. After a couple of batches you'll learn about how long it's taking for your chicken and won't have to watch it quite as closely. Drain cooked chicken on paper towels. Can put it on an ovenproof plate in a warm oven to keep warm, but if your rice is done and your sauce is done, you can just serve it as it comes out, which is what I usually end up doing. On each plate, put a scoop of rice, some chicken pieces, and then ladle some sauce over. Delish.

You can also add other goodies to the plates before ladling the sauce. Mix and match:
Chopped green pepper
pineapple chunks
chopped green onions
sesame seeds
tomatoes

Last night I made it plain for the kids, and just topped mine and Mike's with some chopped green onions. It was super tasty!