Sweet n' Sour Chicken.

This is Rob and James' ultimate favorite of all.  It's a bit time-consuming, but friendly Asian recipe that doesn't require fancy exotic ingredients, just soy sauce and rice vinegar.

                                   

Chicken:

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup cooking sake or sherry (if you don't have either, water will do just fine.)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Cornstarch to coat the chicken

Oil for deep frying

Vegetables:

carrot

onion

green bell pepper

celery

oil for stir-fry

2 tablespoons ketchup

Sauce:

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Mix soy sauce and sake in a bowl.  (I use pyrex 8x8 pan.)  Add minced garlic.  Marinate chicken cubes for 20 minutes.  You don't want to over marinate them, otherwise the chicken will be too salty.

2. In a large ziploc bag, pour some cornstarch to coat the chicken.

3. Heat oil in a wok or deep pan enough to deep fry the coated chicken.  Fry for 6 to 7 minutes per batch.

4. Put them onto layered paper towels to degrease and cool the chicken.

5. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil on high heat.  Stir fry vegetables and season with salt and pepper lightly.  When they are cooked but still crisp, take them onto a platter; set aside.

6. Mix the ingredients for sauce in a small bowl.

7. On the same pan used to stir-fry the vegetables, heat 1 tablespoon of oil.  When it's well heated, add ketchup and cook it for a minute until it has a deep red color.

Add sauce to the pan and stir.  

8. When the mixture becomes thick, add the cooked vegetables and the fried chicken.  Gently toss them to coat.