After all of the excess of the past few weeks, I wanted to cook us something simple for our tea tonight, and yet I still wanted something delicious. Its New Years after all . . . and whilst the traditionalist in me was telling me that I needed to be baking a Ham like my mom always did, the lazy person in me said, no, no, no . . . the lazy person won!
Let me introduce Sweet & Sour Chicken Nuggets. I know that sweet & Sour sauce is a very popular dipping sauce for chicken nuggets . . .
And sweet and sour chicken balls are a very popular entree on a Chinese menu. This tasty recipe combines the two, plus has the added convenience of using frozen chicken nuggets.
By all means if you are a purest, do make your own chicken nuggets from scratch. There are plenty of good recipes out there.
There are also some very good quality frozen chicken nuggets available these days as well, made from chunk chicken and not ground chicken. This is what I used.
I have used them before and I was confident that they are a premium chicken product, made with actual chunks of chicken, not regurgitated chicken paste. But if this still bothers you, by all means buy some chicken breast, cut it into chunks, batter it and fry it yourself.
Like I said, with me, today . . . Lazy won out!
If you decide to use frozen, do use battered and NOT breaded.
You simply spread them out on a baking sheet and bake according to the package directions until they are crisp and golden brown.
While they are baking make your sauce. I used three kinds of peppers in my sauce . . . red, yellow and green . . . along with an onion, I cut into chunks and some garlic.
You cook these in a tiny bit of oil until crispy tender and then you pour on the liquid ingredients.
I use a mix of water, pineapple juice, soy sauce and white vinegar . . .
I add tomato ketchup for color and taste.
You pour this over the vegetables along with the pineapple and you let it come to the boil, and then you whisk in a mix of cornflour/cornstarch and water . . .
Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture bubbles, thickens and turns glossy. Sauce done. Once you got the sauce done and the nuggets are golden brown, you layer the two in a baking dish and then pop them back into the oven . . .
Just until the sauce has gloriously coated each nugget with scrumptious flavor and the flavor all meld. It doesn't take much time at all! Dinner is served!
Yield: 4 - 6Author: Marie Rayner
Sweet & Sour Chicken Nuggets
A simple, easy and deliciously family friendly entree.ingredients:
You will need:1 family sized bag of frozen battered chicken nuggets(Not breaded)1 tsp oil1/2 each red, green and yellow sweet bell pepper, trimmedand cut into chunks1 medium onion, peeled and cut into chunks1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced1 tin (435g/14 oz) pineapple chunks in juice, drain and save the juice
For the sauce:
55g of tomato ketchup (1/4 cup)
1 tsp soy sauce
60ml of white vinegar (1/4 cup)
50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)
95g of white sugar (1/2 cup)
180ml of water or a mix of water and pineapple juice (3/4 cup) plus 2 1/2 TBS
1 1/2 TBS corn flour (corn starch)
To serve:1 spring onion, thinly sliced on the diagonalcooked rice
instructions:
Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on thepackage of chicken nuggets. Spread the nuggets out on a tray in a
single layer and then bake according to package directions. While the
nuggets are baking, make the sauce.
Whisk the
tomato ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, white sugar and
pineapple juice/water mixture together. In a bowl mix together the 2
1/2 TBS of water and the cornflour. Set aside.
Heat
the oil in skillet. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring, until
crispy tender. Add the pineapple chunks. Pour in the tomato ketchup
mixture. Bring to the boil, then whisk in the cornflour/water mixture
and cook stirring until the mixture thickens and becomes glossy.
Remove
the chicken from the oven. Place a third of the sauce in a baking
dish. Top with half the nuggets. Pour another third of the sauce over
top of the nuggets. Top with the remaining nuggets, and then finally
the remaining sauce.
Bake in the heated oven, uncovered,
for 10 to 15 minutes until hot and bubbling. Remove from the oven.
Scatter the spring onion over top and serve along with cooked rice.Created using The Recipes Generator
I served it with some cooked rice and a garnish of green spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal. Todd gobbled it up. I love it when that happens! Happy New Year and Bon Appetit!
