Sweet & Sour Crispy Chicken

If you love Chinese and a fakeaway, this dinner will be a bit of you! It isn't the healthiest dinner as it contains tomato ketchup and sugar but my word, it’s tasty and I promise, you wouldn’t know it has not come from your best local takeaway!

Ingredients:

• 1 white onion, chopped 1cm pieces

• 1 red pepper, chopped 1cm pieces

• 1 green pepper, chopped 1cm pieces

• ½ tsp ginger puree

• 1 tsp very lazy garlic

• 432g pineapple chunks including the juice

• 2 tbsp malt vinegar

• 100ml tomato ketchup

• 100g light muscovado sugar

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Fried Chicken:

• 2 chicken breast, chopped into bite-size pieces

• 6 tbsp cornflour

• Egg wash - 1 egg & 1 tbsp milk

• 2 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

Method:

• Heat a large frying pan or wok with vegetable oil, add the chopped onion and cook on low, stirring regularly for about three minutes, until the onions begin to turn translucent but not brown

• Add the chopped peppers and stir again, roughly for 2 minutes until the pepper begins to soften

• Add the ginger puree, lazy garlic and paprika to the pan and stir to incorporate

• Then add the tomato ketchup, light brown sugar, malt vinegar and pineapple to the pan

• Mix it all together and increase the heat to allow the sauce to come to a gentle boil before turning back down to simmer to allow the sauce to thicken

• Whilst your sauce is simmering, it's time to prepare the chicken for frying

• Heat a deep fat fryer to 160°C, if you don't have a fryer, you can also shallow fry

• In a bowl, mix together the cornflour, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder

• With one hand, add the chicken to the egg wash until and coat it well - this is important as it will allow the flour to stick to the chicken

• Transfer the coated chicken to the flour bowl, using your other hand, coat the chicken well in the flour mix

• Once your oil is up to temperature, gently drop in the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked inside - if you're using a meat thermometer, it should read at 165°F or you can cut a bit open to check. Tip: You may need to cook the chicken in batches depending on the size of your fryer/pan

• Add the cooked chicken to your sauce and mix it all together

• Leave to gently simmer for a further 5 minutes to allow the chicken to absorb the sweet & sour sauce

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with white rice and prawn crackers for the perfect Chinese Fakeaway