Sweet & Sour Chicken
 
I’ve been preparing for my next cooking class “Soups, Stews & Chowders” on January 11 for the City of Roseville Parks and Recreation.  If you love soups, stews, and chowders and want to discover new flavors and different types of them, then you’ll love my class.  I’ll have lots of tips and of course recipes, plus you’ll get to taste many of the soups. Soups not only are comforting, but they fill us up and satisfy our taste buds.  Oh come on..... join me and others for a fun and tasty 3 hours.
 
Tonight I was in the “mood” for Oriental flavors and thought about all the calories that come with many of the dishes.  I remembered making a sweet and sour dish from a Weight Watcher Book and started going thru all my WW cookbooks.  Eureka!!!! I found it right off and was thrilled to see that I had made it some years ago and marked it “excellent”!!  So here’s the recipe.  I served it with a brown rice pilaf (I cooked Uncle Bens Instant Brown Rice).  While it was cooking I sauteed scallions and some chopped green pepper and a clove of garlic.  I cooked the mixture until soft and then added the cooked rice.  I also steamed broccoli and sprinkled it was a little sesame oil and spray butter.
 
The sweet and sour recipe goes like this:
 
For 8 Servings:
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.  You can also use pork tenderoil pieces in place of the chicken.
7 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons soy sauce (reduced sodium)
2 tablespoons Rice wine vinegar or Chinese cooking wine
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained, 2/3 cup juice reserved
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 1/2 tabldespoons minced fresh ginger2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
 
In a bowl combine the chicken, 1 tablespoon of the honey, 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch, 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and the rice wine.
 
Combine the remaining 6 tablespoons honey, 4 teaspoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, the ketchup, vinegar and the reserved pineapple juice in a bowl; set aside.
 
Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving any marinade left in the  bowl.  
 
Heat a wok or large deep skillet over medium (almost high) heat until the water sizzles when you drop a little in the skillet.  Swirl in the oil, add the chicken and stir fry until almost cooked thru, 3 to 5 minutes.  ADD the ginger and stir fry until you can smell it, about 30 seconds.  ADD the bell peppers; stir fry until crisp tender, which should take about 4 minutes.  STIR in the pineapple chunks, ketchup mixture and the reserved marinade; cook, stirring constantly, until it boils and thickens and the chicken is cook through, about 2 minutes.
Per serving (3/4 cup) 269 cal; 6g fat; 58mg Chol; 483mg Sodium; 36g Carb; 1g fiber; 19g protein; 34mg calc.    
 
Serve with rice and broccoli.  Serve in your own “take out” containers.
 
 
 
Sweet & Sour Chicken
Saturday, December 30, 2006