Chinese Sweet & Sour Chicken
Chinese Sweet & Sour Chicken
Posted by liz at recipegoldmine
com May 26, 2001
Source: Posted by Cookin’ Dad 03-27-2001 09:33 pm
This is an excellent recipe for sweet & sour chicken
It uses a soy sauce-based sweet & sour sauce
I have also included a red sweet & sour sauce recipe at the bottom of the recipe if you & your family prefer that type
Please let me know how things go
2 large whole boneless chicken
breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
5 tpss ginger (GRATED EXTRA-FINE)
1 tps garlic, minced (I used garlic press)
1 1/2 tpss freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 tpss freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup green onion, sliced in approximately
1/4-inch segments
2 Tbsphot oil
2 Tbspcornstarch, mixed with water for thickening sauce
Chicken nugget breading
2 cups cornstarch (approximation)
2 eggs
1 cup water (approximation)
1 tablespoon oil (approximation)
Red Chinese Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tpss regular prepared mustard**
1 tablespoon ginger (minced as fine as possible)
1 tps garlic (minced as fine as possible)
About 3 Tbspgreen onions, green part only
About 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with little more than
1 tablespoon water for thickening sauce
About 2 Tbsphot oil (add to sauce after thickened)
** You can omit the mustard, but I personally prefer that subtle extra it adds
No matter what you decide, you’ll like this sauce
Several hrs before cooking time, cut salt chicken (I used a little less than 1 tps)
After you have salted chicken, drizzle a little water on breast chunks & mix
Follow that with about 2 Tbspcornstarch
Mix cornstarch in, gently massaging it into meat with your h&s
Set in refrigerator
A couple of hrs before cooking time mix sauce ingredients together
This includes everything EXCEPT green onion, hot oil & cornstarch
Make sure the ginger is VERY FINELY minced or you will sacrifice some of the flavor
This step may take extra time, but your effort will be rewarded – trust me, this sauce is yummy!!!! Set sauce aside to allow flavors to marry
Before you heat up oil (about 3 inches deep in deepest part of wok), mix eggs, water & oil together bowl
Place nuggets in mixture, then dip in pure cornstarch
Make sure you have a thin, solid coating with no bald spots
Heat oil while nuggets sit in cornstarch
Before frying, make sure oil is piping hot (important for allowing cornstarch to achieve its full functionality)
Drop first batch of nuggets in hot oil (should see just a little smoke just before nuggets are placed in oil)
Oil temp
for this recipe is important, because if oil is hot enough, nuggets will be slightly crispy in spite of having been fried for just 2 1/2 to 3 min! On the other h&,if the temp
is too low, your nuggets may have a slightly gooey exterior
If you have a thermometer, fry at 375 to 380 deg F
Remove first batch of nuggets which should be ready in no more than 3 min
Unless you are using golf ball-size nuggets (lol)
Drain well
My nuggets were super tender after frying them for not quite 3 min Allow a minute or two for oil temp
before frying your next, & possibly final, batch
Also, for optimum results with different sized nuggets in same batch, put larger size nuggets in BEFORE smaller size ones
After you are done frying & draining nuggets, pour oil out of wok & into safe container
Allow wok to cool for a minute or so before cleaning it & then heating sauce
When heating sauce, pour in cornstarch/water mixture within first minute or so
Stir &, when sauce starts to thicken, add hot oil & stir well before adding green onions
Lastly, dump chicken nuggets into wok & stir until all nuggets are coated with sauce
Serve over white rice
Italian Rum Cake
Italian Rum Cake
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Grated peel of 1/2 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (at room temp)
1/2 cup dark rum
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 deg F
Beat the yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar together in a mixing bowl and slowly add 1/4 cup of the flour
Meanwhile, place the milk in a small pot and bring to the brink of boiling
Slowly pour the milk over the yolk mixture, then pour the everything back into the pot
Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens
Remove from the heat and mix in the lemon peel
Scrape into a plastic container, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill
Running your mixer at high speed, cream butter and remaining sugar together in a mixer fitted with a paddle
Add the eggs 1 at a time, waiting until the previous 1 has been absorbed
Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated
Add vanilla extract, nutmeg, baking soda and salt
Decrease the speed to medium, add remaining flour and mix an additional minute
Scrape the batter into a 1-quart round or rectangular cake pan, leaving 1/2-inch space at the top
Place on the middle rack of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes
The cake is done when the surface cracks and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean
Remove cake from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before unmolding onto rack
When the cake is completely cool, slice it into 6 layers
Place the first layer on a cake platter and sprinkle with some of the rum
Cover the layer with some of the custard mixture
Place the second layer on top of the custard, sprinkle with rum and cover with more custard
Continue until the cake is assembled
Lightly spread the custard all over the surface of the cake
Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving
Chinese Stir-Fried Noodles
Chinese Stir-Fried Noodles
Posted by Cookin’ Dad at recipegoldmine
com 1/20/2002 12:34 am
Dear Recipe Gold Mine Friends,
I have received a few e-mails in the past regarding how to make good Chinese fried noodles
Unfortunately, I have been super busy with work & haven’t had a lot of extra time to write long responses
Anyhow, I finally got around to responding
I have pasted the text of one message below
Hope it is at least a little helpful
Also, hope all of you had a great weekend!
Regards,
Cookin’ Dad
Milk & Honey,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you regarding the fried noodle recipe; year-end accounting robbed me of any free time last week (smile)
Anyhow, I do not have exact measurements for this recipe (most Americans don’t measure when they make spaghetti-smile) ; there are millions of variations, but I guarantee that you can’t go wrong with virtually any fried noodle recipe as long as you use the below KEY ingredients
I actually played around with several ingredients off & on during the past few months & this is what I came up with:
Fried Noodles (for 6 to 8 people)
Meats
Use about 1 pound of cooked, diced chicken, pork or beef strips or seafood
If you use chicken or pork, lightly salt meat (little less than 1/2 tps /lb) & apply about 2 Tbspwater to meat
Than slowly sprinkle equal amount of cornstarch & slowly massage mixture into meat
For pork, unless it is a very tender cut of meat, you’ll probably want to add about 1 tablespoon oil
Follow same steps for beef
For seafood, like shrimp, use same salt ratio, but cut the cornstarch & water by about 75%
Vegetables
I like to use carrots, thinly sliced mushrooms, green onions, bean sprouts (small qty
) Chinese or American celery
As a rule of thumb, I use about a 1
5: 1 veggies & meat ratio
However, much of this depends on individual tastes
The locals here often use at least twice as much veggies as meat
For 6-8 person recipe, I’d probably use about 3 cups of veggies
Wine
This is a KEY ingredient
Drizzle about 1 to 2 Tbspon meat halfway through cooking cycle
Soy Sauce
I like to use this, but you can use salt instead
The color of the noodles will, of course, be lighter
Chinese BBQ Sauce (pronounced shah chah jiang)
This is also KEY & adds a very unique touch to fried noodles
Your original recipe did not use this & the addition of this ingredient makes a huge difference
I know many of the older Taiwanese that I know around here like to add this ingredient
You can buy this at most Chinese/oriental grocery stores
Oyster Sauce
This KEY ingredient is slightly sweet & is an awesome combination with Chinese BBQ sauce
I use equal amounts of both in my fried noodles
Garlic
I use lots of this – about 1 tablespoon for stir-frying the veggies in this recipe
Sesame Oil
This adds a unique flair to this recipe
Drizzle on 1 to 2 tpss (try 1 tps first) of this on fried noodles after you finish cooking them
Simply toss & serve
Note: I don’t use black or white pepper in my fried noodles
If I want extra zip, I add 1 fresh, chopped Chinese red chile pepper (heat averse types can remove seeds before stir-frying)
Stir fry with garlic before adding veggies
Directions
Salt & marinate your meat for several hrs as per above directions
For best results, do this the day before
I usually do so & the meat is ALWAYS super tender
Boil noodles (not sure on cooked quantity – 8 cups?) until al dente
Drain, rinse & set aside
Next, while noodles are boiling, dice or thinly slice your veggies
The green onions can be finely chopped or cut in one inch strips which is much faster
Once veggies are chopped & your wok has started to lightly smoke, add about 2 Tbspoil
Be careful not to add too much or your veggies will be oily (Note: If you use carrots or American celery, you may want to par-boil (couple of min) them before stir-frying since they take longer to stir-fry than the other veggies (I usually do that); the color will also be better
Once oil is hot, add garlic & fry for about 10 to 15 seconds or just until you smell a very strong aroma, but garlic has not browned
Next add veggies & stir-fry about 3 min before removing from wok
If you choose not to use soy sauce, add salt just before you are finished cooking veggies
The next step is to add more oil to your wok & stir-fry meat
You can stir-fry meat with one whole, bruised, peeled garlic clove (remove after cooking unless you like to eat whole garlic cloves like my wife)
About halfway through cooking cycle, add dry white wine, sherry or rice wine (I use rice wine because it’s very cheap)
After meat has finished cooking, remove from wok
After wok has cooled for minute or so, wipe dry or if very dirty, rinse clean with warm water
Add about 3 Tbspsoy sauce, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce & 1 tablespoon Chinese BBQ sauce
Heat this mixture very briefly before adding veggies, meat & noodles
Toss well to coat & turn off fire
Add sesame oil & toss again
Taste noodles & add more oyster sauce & Chinese BBQ sauce
Do not add more than 1 tablespoon of each every time you add these as the noodles will become noticeably saltier VERY quickly
You can also add more soy sauce, but I usually try not to because it is very salty
Hope you find this helpful & please E-mail me if you still have questions regarding ingredients or measurements
Take care