Fancy some Saturday night fake away? Check out the recipe for one of our favourite dishes from our Chinese Cook School @ Home Classes…Sweet & Sour Chicken with Egg Fried Rice.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

• 1 chicken breast trimmed and cut into chunks

Marinade

• 3 tsp light soy sauce
• 3 tsp dry sherry
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• Small piece fresh root ginger grated

Coating

• 50g cornflour
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Small piece fresh root ginger finely diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 tsp tomato ketchup
• 4 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• 150g fresh pineapple, diced
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• Coriander

Batter

• 100g cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100ml water

Method

1. Mix the chicken with the marinade ingredients and leave to sit for at least 15 mins, or chill for a few hours. In a separate bowl, mix all the coating ingredients. Drain any excess liquid off the chicken and toss the chicken in the coating. This can be done 1 hr ahead.

2. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a shallow saucepan and gently fry the garlic, ginger and pepper until just starting to soften. Now drop in all the rest of the ingredients except the sesame seeds. Bring everything to the boil and cook for a few mins until thickened, then take off the heat. To make the batter, whisk the cornflour and baking powder together with the water to a smooth paste.

3. Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer, large saucepan or a wok to 180C or until a drop of batter sizzles and browns in 20 secs. Dip the coated chicken in the batter mix, do it in 2 or 3 batches and let any excess drip off. Fry the chicken in batches for about 5-6 mins or until golden. Remove and drain on kitchen paper until all the batches are done. Make sure you bring the oil back to the correct temperature between each batch. Coat the chicken in sauce, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and coriander.

Egg Fried Rice

• 1 egg
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 200g long-grain rice (uncooked weight), cooked and left to go cold
• 100g frozen peas, defrosted
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1-2 tsp soy sauce

Method

1. Beat together the egg and sesame oil and put to one side.

2. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or large frying pan. When it’s warm add the rice and stir-fry for about 3-4 minutes until completely heated through.

3. Add the peas and spring onions. Stir-fry the rice constantly around the pan for about 3 minutes. Season well with soy sauce then push the rice to one side of the pan. Pour the beaten egg mixture into the other side and leave for about 10 seconds so it begins to set. Using a fork, briskly swirl around the egg to break it up and then toss around with the rice. Stir-fry for a further minute and serve straight away.