Well Fed Network

Posted by Erika Waz on Kids Cuisine.

It is a rare occasion when we opt to call for Chinese take-out.  When we do, though, my children’s hands-down favorite is Sweet-and-Sour Chicken.   They love the lightly breaded chicken doused with a sweet and tangy sauce and served over rice.  As I watch them happily dig into their take-out order, I can’t help but notice the lack of vegetables on their plates.  Thinking I could make my own sweet-and-sour chicken, I’ve tried several recipes, but none of them has that flavor indicating that it was made by the pros, and my attempts have consistently been turned down by my eaters.  Until I found this recipe.

A few months back I reviewed The Mom and Me Cookbook by Annabel Karmel here at Kids Cuisine.  While we love to look through the book, it took a while before we settled on trying the sweet-and-sour chicken.  We made the recipe as written — only swapping out the white rice for brown, but otherwise following the directions as the were.  The result was a sweet-and-sour chicken that both kids enjoyed immensely.  The only change we will make next time will be to double the sauce, as they both wanted more sauce on their rice.  Otherwise, it received two thumbs up and this cookbook has officially been broken in.

Sweet-And-Sour Chicken
Recipe courtesy of The Mom and Me Cookbook by Annabel Karmel

Ingredients:

8 ozs. diced chicken breast
2/3 cups carrot matchsticks
1 cup sliced baby corn
1 cup trimmed green beans
1 cup white rice (we opted for brown)
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Batter:
1½ tablespoon corn starch
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk
black pepper

Sauce:
4 tablespoons chicken stock
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons superfine sugar

1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Make the sauce by mixing together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl
3. Beat together the batter ingredients in another bowl
4. Dip the chicken in the batter, and then fry it in 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Remove from the pan.
5. Next, stir-fry the carrots, baby corn, and beans in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil for 4 minutes.
6. Add the sauce and boil for 1 minute.  Then add the chicken and green onions and heat through.
7. Spoon a helping of sweet-and-sour chicken on top of a bed of rice.