Chinese Take Away @ Home!

My friend Christina over at Tales From a Mad Men Kitchen had the great idea of testing out "copy cat" Chinese takeaway recipes. This excites me because, due to my shellfish allergies & other food confines, I am unable to splurge on this yummy fast food alternative. I happened to see this one for sweet & sour chicken when she cast the challenge.

The bones of this recipe are really good even with the bit of tweaking I did (or especially with the tweaking ;) ) but the text in itself was highly frustrating to me. Very difficult to follow while cooking, all clustered the way it is. So, in a highly unlike-Lishie way, I re-wrote the entire recipe to make it much more user friendly. The original came from Jennifer Iserloh's Secrets of a Skinny Chef, originally linked here : Just Like Takeout Sweet & Sour Chicken.

This was so flavorful & delicious I'd definitely recommend it. It's much healthier, "clearer" & has less sodium than bottled sauces. We ate it without a carb but next time, I'll make it with white rice on the side. My hubby said, "All you need is the white box." Awesome.

Just Like Takeout Sweet-and-Sour Chicken


Sauce

• 1 cup orange juice
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lemon, juiced & the zest
• 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

In a medium bowl, whisk sauce ingredients together until incorporated & smooth. Set aside.


Chicken

• 1⁄2 cup AP flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 egg whites
• 1 lb. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts  cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 450°F.


Place parchment paper on a baking sheet (or “grease” with cooking spray).


Then using a typical breading “mise en place” station, prep the chicken to cook- In one shallow bowl, place the flour, cornstarch, salt & paprika, & mix. In another shallow bowl, the egg whites.


Bread the chicken… & this is how “I” did it… I placed all of the chicken pieces into the egg whites & tossed the pieces until they were covered. Then I transferred the egg-coated chicken to the flour mixture for coating. Lifted each piece, shaking off the extra flour mix & placed them on the prepped baking sheet.


Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the breading is crisp.


Veg

• 3 TBSp Canola Oil
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1/4 cup scallions

***Optional Add-ins:

• 1⁄2 cup cubed pineapple
• 1 8-ounce can bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 can of water chestnuts

Heat a large skillet with 3 TBSp canola oil over high heat. Add the bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower & scallions. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the veg starts to brown lightly but is still crisp. (Optional items should be added here).


Transfer the chicken from the baking sheet to the skillet with the vegetables. Pour the sauce over the chicken & veg, gently stirring until the sauce is incorporated into the skillet. Cook about 2 minutes more, until the sauce thickens.

***I did not use the additional ingredients. For the pineapple, I like my veg with a fruit or citrus accent but not with actual fruit chunks mixed in.

Flavorful, yummy goodness!

*Lishie tips: A lot of the ingredients are staples for my kitchen- For instance, a kitchen MUST is corn starch... But you do not need to run out & buy everything. If you need to eliminate something from the sauce- it would be FINE without the orange marmalade (the marmalade simply strengthens the beautiful citrus highlights of this meal. Orange juice alone would be fine). Oh, but a MUST that is not an American pantry staple? Sesame Oil! Do buy it- it's wonderful!

*Lishie facts: Sweet & Sour Chicken really is a Western invention & generally the chicken is deep fried. Sweet & Sour Pork, on the other hand, is Cantonese from as far back as 18th Century China.