Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Wendell's Sweet Sour Chicken

My pal Fay emailed me the link to this recipe.  She said to show it to Wendell.  I did and he took the bait.   

I'm so glad that he did because it was soooo ono.  I took one bite and any thoughts of my diet went out da door.  The recipe is from Just One Cookbook.

IMG_8625

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken thighs (11 oz, 312 g)
  • 3 potatoes
  • 3 inch lotus root (renkon)
  • ½ carrot
  • 1 Japanese/Chinese eggplant
  • ½ onion
  • ½ green pepper
  • ½ cup potato starch/cornstarch
  • 3 cups neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) (for deep frying)

Marinade:

  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp sake
  • 1 tsp ginger (grated, include juice)
  • 1 clove garlic

Black Vinegar Sauce:

  • 4 Tbsp sugar
  • 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp black vinegar (If you use Chinese black vinegar, use ½ Tbsp as it has a stronger flavor)
  • 1 Tbsp mirin
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 1 Tbsp sake
  • 2 tsp potato starch/cornstarch

Instructions

Gather all the ingredients.

Make the marinade. Grate the ginger and garlic. Combine the ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sake in a large bowl.

Trim off and discard any excess fat from the chicken, then cut the meat into bite size pieces and add them to the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 10 min.

Combine all the ingredients for Black Vinegar Sauce and mix well together.

Cut the potato in half and carrot into small pieces. 

Potatoes and carrots take too long to deep fry; therefore we boil them first for 10 minutes until they are tender. Drain and set aside.

Cut the lotus root to ⅛" (3 mm) slices and eggplant into ½” (1.3 cm) slices.

Cut onion and green peppers in wedges and cut half in length-wise.

In a deep fryer or heavy-bottomed pot, add 3 cups of oil. Depending on the size of your pot, you will need more or less oil to have at least 2 inches (5 cm) of oil in the pot.  Preheat the oil to 340ºF (170ºC). Using a paper towel, pat dry the vegetables before you add them to the oil. Deep fry until they’re tender. Be careful not to over/under cook. When they’re done, drain the oil on a wire rack or paper towel.

Next, coat the chicken in potato starch and deep fry at 340ºF (170ºC) for 5 minutes or until golden brown. If the chicken is being browned too quickly, adjust the heat and make sure the chicken is cooked through. Drain the oil well on a wire rack or paper towel.

When the chicken is done deep frying, heat the wok and toss the deep-fried vegetables and chicken together. When they are re-heated evenly, pour the Black Vinegar Sauce over the chicken and vegetables, toss and combine. Transfer to a plate and serve.


IMG_8629

ADDENDUM:

Wendell first went to Marukai and could only find black vinegar in the Health section.  He bought the vinegar in the red box on the left for $13.70.  He then went to the Asian Market on Beretania and found the Chinese vinegar for $3.50.  Wendell used the red-box one.

IMG_8609

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

next time Wendell makes this, can I come for dinner? So many steps and ingredients! No wonder so ono.
v

jenny said...

Looks so ono and since it's all deep fried, it must have been 100% ono. I hate deep frying but will just agree that the dish was winners.

Honolulu Aunty said...

Black vinegar? Hmmmm. Was really really ono? Okay, I'll go look for black vinegar...

Susan said...

Lots of work to do on this recipe but I’d like to try one day.

Anonymous said...

Looks onolicious, but too many ingredients for me. I do like some of her recipes on Just One Cookbook.

Izsmom

jalna said...

V, he did take awhile to make it.

Jenny, I know what you mean about deep frying.

Aunty, please see my addendum to the post. Wendell ended up buying two types of black vinegar.

Susan, hope you get to try.

Izsmom, I like her recipes too!

Anonymous said...

J, yeah awesome but like the others said, too many steps. Plus I now avoid buying ingredients I only use once or twice + pricey.But I guess the outcome is so worth it. N

Chet Colson said...

Ho....look more Ono than Panda Express.

K and S said...

yum!

jalna said...

N, I agree, no way I coulda made the dish myself with all the steps. But I'm thinking the Black Vinegar sauce portion can be used to make more simple dishes too.

Chet, for real!!

Kat, it was so yummy.