Crispy chicken balls with home-made sweet & sour sauce

Almost four years ago now, I caught myself saying on this blog that I had tired of looking out for Chinese restaurants which were all mediocre and served nothing but the same old glutamate-laden ready-made sauces... would you believe that the same passionate cook has found new love in Asian restaurants lately? And this is a relatively new disovery, a complete 180-degree turn of my palate, who would have thought?

I really didn't have much hope of ever setting foot in a Chinese outside of China again and actually enjoy my food - but I have discovered that there is a vibrant restaurant scene here in London, if you care to look beyond the Chinatown eateries that only manage to lure in hungry tourists who don't know any better. Recently, I had the pleasure of sharing some of my preferred places on (German-speaking) culinary portal kuechengoetter.de - my absolute favourite at the moment being Hunan in Pimlico, where a family-run restaurant only offers custom-made lunches and dinners serving anything between 15 and 20 courses of the most delectable, Chinese food... I could eat there every day, if they let me!

On this journey of rediscovery, I have also revived an old favourite recipe. Curious as I am, I wanted to make my own sweet & sour sauce rather than resorting to something full of preservatives and E-numbers. You wouldn't believe just how easy this is to make, there is really no excuse for not making your own... believe me, you won't regret it!

PS: I can't promise I'll ever do a proper review of it, so if you want to indulge in custom-made sichuan cuisine, see for yourself:
Hunan
51 Pimlico Road, SW1
Tel: 020 7730 5712

Crispy chicken balls with home-made sweet & sour sauce
(serves 4)

2 egg whites

4 tbsp soysauce
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
4 chicken breasts
200 g potato flour
oil for frying

For the sweet & sour sauce:
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 medium onion
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
½ yellow pepper
3 spring onions
1 tsp ginger (finely chopped)
5 tbsp tomato ketchup
4 tbsp rice vinegar
4 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
200 ml chicken stock
1 tbsp corn starch (heaped)             

            

Clean chicken breasts and cut into 1-2 cm pieces. Whisk egg whites, garlic and soy sauce and marinade the chicken pieces for at least 1 hour. In the meantime, prepare the ingredients for the sauce. Peel the onion and cut into 1 cm pieces, then cut the peppers and spring onions into thin strips.

Heat plenty of oil in your fryer or a deep pan on the stove. Roll the chicken pieces in potato flour so they're evenly covered. Shake off any excess.                    

To prepare the sauce, heat sesame and grapeseed oil in a wok or other suitable pan, fry the onions for 2 minutes until just softening. Add ginger, spring onions and pepper medley and continue to fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and corn starch and pour over the chicken stock. Season with salt and leave to thicken.

In the meantime, fry the chicken pieces in the hot oil for about 10 minutes until crispy and browning. Just before serving, fold into the sweet & sour sauce and offer with fluffy steamed basmati rice. 

Comments

[Deborah]

I have never made my own sweet and sour sauce, but I bet it is amazing! I started making my own teriyaki sauce, and I was amazed at how much better it was than the bottled kind!

[courtney]

I have always loves Sweet and Sour chicken or pork. Nothing beats your own hoemade sweet and sour sauce.Good Eating.

[Suganya]

The sauce sounds great. I am gonna try it with cauliflower.

[Leah]

I've recently moved to London and I'm craving chinese food and had no idea where to go- now I do! Thanks!

[johanna]

Deborah, I’d be interested to hear how you make the teriyaki sauce… do you have a link there or haven’t you blogged it?
I love teriyaki sauce and I just know this will taste so much better home-made. I have to try making my own tomato ketchup in the summer… if only we could get decent tomatoes here!

yes leah, i know the feeling. if you can rustle up some german, do read the kuechengoetter entry for some more addresses... but hunan stays on top!!!

[Susan from Food Blogga]

That sweet and sour sauce looks absolutely fabulous, and it's only 4:52 am here!

[brilynn]

You've convinced me that I need to make this, it looks awesome!

[melissa]

that looks & sounds good =^)

[Margaret]

Great ingredients list. Looks and sounds wonderful. Will definitely give this a go.

[Anne]

That looks so incredibly delicious! (Note to self: don't read Johanna's blog before breakfast... ) Oh, and I tagged you: http://annesfood.blogspot.com/2008/02/tagged-again.html

[Andrea]

I love sweet and sour pork/chicken, but like you I'm choosy about both the sauce and the crispy meat. The best I ever had was at a family-run Chinese restaurant in Saipan years and years ago. I played around until I came up with a recipe very similar to yours that pretty much matched the sauce they used at the restaurant. The owner did share with me his secret for getting the meat very crispy: frying twice in small batches. Fry once and set the meat on the rack over the oil while frying another batch, then fry again.

[johanna]

that's a great suggestion, andrea - and one i shall try next time. i always do two batches, but didn't double-fry them. i don't have a rack over the oil, but i'll put it in the oven instead... thanks!

[leigh]

this looks fantastic - yet another post i'll be making!

[Jeanne]

Oh WOW that looks good! That deliciously gloopy sauce did it for me... And I wholeheartedly second your opinion of Hunan - it was a real eye-opener in a city where mediocre Chinese restaurants are two a penny.

[Deborah Dowd]

This looks so delicious. I know my family would love it!

[Bellini Valli]

One of our local establishments serves this in the remainder of the pineapple...no batter, no preservatives, just delicious flavours... I love your rendition...bookmarked:D

[FlaNboyantEats]

this is so great and coincidental I found it, b/c just this afternoon a friend and i ate at PF Chang's in Atlanta--we had crispy honey chicken in that same sauce. it was soo good but yours looks 10 times better!

[Tartelette]

Love sweet and sour sauce. The dish is rendered impeccably by your photography skills! Beautiful!

[Pille]

I made this, dear Johanna! I used 500 g chicken (2 large breasts), and doubled most of the sauce ingredients (excl. rice vinegar). Utterly delicious!!

[kathy]

I've been searching high and low for a good sweet and sour sauce, i can't even remember how i got here, but thanks a bunch. I will give this recipe a try tonight. I just threw some frozen breasts into the sink to unthaw-i was sorta planning on a prune, dried apricot chicken tangine thing i haven't made for some time, but this sounds good enough to try, and the added bonus....i have it all in my pantry and fridge. an added bonus.