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I didn't eat Chinese food until I was in college (say what?!). I was a picky kid with a boring palette. I blame it on not being exposed to much variety - especially international cuisines, as I grew up. It's par for the course, probably, in a single parent household - and in Georgia, no less! We ate a lot of pasta, Hamburger Helper (gag! I can never stomach that gloopy gloppy fake cheese stuff again!), hamburgers and hot dogs, mac and cheese, chicken fingers, barbequed chicken, etc. You know, basic kid foods. That said, my mom is an awesome cook. You don't like meatloaf? My Mom's will make you a believer!
In college, I had to like Chinese. I didn't have a choice. You see, my freshman year I lived next door to Ellie - who would become my closest friend through college and post-college roommate here in D.C. We've been through "all sorts of terrain," as we joke, together. Ellie loves Chinese. She could live solely off of Chinese takeout, I really believe.
Her family was gracious enough to take me in as another kid of their own during a few holidays when Georgia was just too far away to get home. When I stayed with them, I joined in on a lifetime long tradition of "Chinese and a movie Sundays." They rent a movie, order takeout, and spend the evening together as a family. I fell in love with general tso's chicken, egg drop soup, beef and broccoli - you name it.
Over the years, I like to think my fondness for Chinese food has developed, that my palette has gained some depth. So when I went to China for 10 days several years ago, I expected to enjoy all the delicacies and learn names of foods I'd never heard.
That went out in the window in a matter of hours.
Real Chinese food in China? That stuff is sca-ry. You never know what you're eating, not ever. At the first restaurant we went to after getting to our hotel in a small area of Beijing, we lucked out by having a server that spoke a smattering of English words. We pointed to a picture on the menu that looked delicious and confidently ordered it. He shook his head and grimaced, slightly. He hunkered down and wrote, his eyes coming back up to only briefly meet ours, that pained, nervous expression still there.
We pulled out our phrase books.
"Beef?" We asked him. Is it?
He nodded no.
"Chicken?"
No.
"Pig?" We hoped.
He nodded his head yes. Then no.
He floundered for a minute trying to find the words. "The foot," he finally said, pointing down at his own.
Pig's feet.
And that was normal. And mild. And edible. We steered clear of restaurants without English descriptions after that.
So Chinese is the one international cuisine that I will willingly admit to avoiding the "real" stuff. The Americanized versions? Get in my belly! (Gosh, I hate myself right now. Do you hate me? But it's the truth, sad as it is!)
In the last year or so I've found that I really do like sweet and sour chicken, a dish that had never been my favorite. But I can never eat more than a few bites of it before feeling sick from the surgary, gelatinous sauce. So I got very excited when I came across a recipe on pinterest for a homemade, lighter version of the dish. When I first read through the recipe, though, I stopped cold, and almost didn't "pin" it. The sauce included ketchup. Ketchup! I know I'm admitting to liking less-than-authentic Chinese food, but KETCHUP?! That's gone too far.
But I went to the blogger's site, and oh my goodness, she has over 500 comments on this recipe. From a scan through them, they nearly all seem to be raving about this dish. So what the heck? Let's break out the ketchup and make some sweet and sour chicken, I thought.
Holy cow. I'm never ordering this dish out again. It's delicious. Better than pig's feet, even.
Recipe (slightly) adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
chicken ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (1" pieces, or whatever you like - thighs would work too!)
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 large eggs, beaten (in a separate bowl)
1/4 cup canola oil (olive oil would probably be a fine substitute)
Sriracha (I used about 1/8 cup - but use according to taste - I like it spicy!)
sauce ingredients
1 cup sugar (3/4 would work just as well)
8 tablespoons ketchup
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce (i use less sodium)
2 teaspoons garlic powder + more because there's never enough garlic
brown (or white) rice, steamed
chopped broccoli, carrots, onions, green and red pepper, and whatever other veggies you like!
steps
preheat the over to 350F
cube your chicken and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
pour the cornstarch into a large ziploc bag - put the raw, cubed chicken in, seal, and toss to coat
dip the cornstarch-coated chicken (it will feel almost plasticy!) into the egg (coat evenly)
heat your oil in a large (large!) skillet over medium heat (it will take several minutes to get hot)
place your cornstarch + egg coated chicken in the skillet in a single layer
cook for 1-2 minutes and flip as evenly as you can and cook for another 1-2 minutes until brown (don't cook all the way through!)
place all your gorgeous, browned chicken into cookie sheet or baking dish
mix all of your sauce ingredients
pour half of the mixture over the chicken in the pan
bake for 30-45 minutes - feel free to flip the chicken once to make sure both sides get saucy
while the chicken is baking, stir fry your veggies in a small amount of oil - season with salt & pepper, garlic, and a little of your sauce
heat your remaining sauce in a small saucepan and let simmer until it heats and thickens
serve your chicken over steamed rice with veggies and add as much sauce as you like!
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Glad this was even better than pig's feet! :)
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