Pineapple Chicken

Good Monday and thank you for stopping by to read my blog.  I appreciate those who take the time out of their busy lives to do so.  Have a great week.

Recently I wanted to make a Chinese meal.  I like many Chinese dishes and try to make them at home when I can.  One dish I decided to make was Pineapple Chicken.  I found a recipe for Chinese Pineapple Chicken at Soupbelly.com.  This is a new- to-me blog with great recipes and wonderful step-by-step photos.  If you want to see great pictures of how this is made just pop on over to her blog.

I did not have the time to let the chicken marinate a whole two hours, and it was fine, but it probably would have been a bit better with a longer marinating time.

I really like her method for marinating the chicken and making the marinade into a batter for the chicken pieces.  The batter clung to the chicken very well.  There is no deep frying involved so that was a plus for me.  I used about 1/4-inch of oil in a large skillet.  I used two set of tongs to fry the chicken, one to remove the chicken pieces from the batter and put them in the hot oil, the other to turn the chicken pieces and remove them as they were done.  This worked very well.  Be sure that the chicken pieces do not touch each other while they are frying, they will stick together.

I, of course, had to change a few things so this is my adaptation of Soupbelly’s recipe.

Pineapple Chicken
adapted from Soupbelly.com

1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 10 chicken tenders)
2 T. soy sauce
1 t. sesame oil
1 egg
1/4 t. pepper
3 T. flour
3 T. cornstarch
oil for frying
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple tidbits
1 t. grated fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. chopped red pepper
1/4 c. chopped green onion
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 T.  soy sauce
1 T. water
1 T. cornstarch

Cut chicken into about 1 1/2-inch chunks.  Add soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and the egg.  Cover and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.  Add flour and cornstarch to the chicken to create a thick batter.  Pour enough oil in a large skillet to make a depth of about 1/4 inch.  Heat over medium-high heat.  Add chicken pieces to hot oil using tongs and not letting them touch each other.  Cook till underside is brown, turn and cook till the second side is brown.  Remove chicken pieces to a paper towel-lined plate.  Repeat until chicken pieces are done.  Pour off any remaining oil in the skillet and wipe clean with paper towels.  Drain pineapple into a glass measuring cup.  If there is not 1 cup of  juice, add enough water to make 1 c.  Pour juice into skillet.  Add ginger, garlic  and red pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Add green onion, brown sugar and soy sauce.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  In a small bowl combine water and cornstarch and mix well.  Stir into sauce and stir until thickened.  Add chicken pieces back to skillet and mix until thoroughly coated and reheated, stirring often.  Serve over steamed rice if desired.  Makes 4 servings.