Sweet & Sour Chicken.

As a student many years ago, my flatmates and I often had sweet & sour pork made from minced pork, as it was very easy to prepare and delicious to boot. Later on, I was advised by a cousin who worked in a restaurant to never ever order sweet and sour anything from restaurants. Apparently, restaurants would use their best/freshest meat for dishes that will bring out the freshness of the meat. Sweet & sour sauce is the sauce they use to mask the taste of old meat. So prepare your own sweet & sour meat if you love it. This is a relatively easy dish to cook, and very satisfying.



Ingredients:
400 g chicken breast, skin off, diced abt 2 cm x 2cm
1/2 cup plain flour
1 medium size onion, cut into half, then each into 4 segments, peel off layers
1 small lebanese cucumber, diced
1 tomato, cut into segments
1/8 of pineapple, cut into segments
1 paprika (peppers), diced abt 2cm x 2xcm
2 stalks spring onions, cut into 3 cm length
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
water
cooking oil
coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Method:
Heat up oil in a wok / pan (about 3 cups), cpat the chicken lightly with flour, shake off excess and fry until light brown (about 5 mins). Set aside.

Pour away the oil. If there are flour residue, wipe off.

Heat up abt 2-3 tbsp cooking oil, add the onion and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add ketchup and mix well.

Add all the rest of the ingredients, except for chicken. Stir to mix. If it is too dry, add a bit of water. If you add to much water, you can thicken up the sauce with 1 tbsp cornflour + a bit of water mixed together.

Switch off the stove. Add the fried chicken and mix well. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Serves 2-4