Chinese New Year: Sweet and Sour Chicken

If you've been following my blog for the last few years you know we LOVE Chinese food and you know that we celebrate Chinese New Year! Its one of our fun little traditions. I use the term celebrate loosly too. We celebrate it by eating Chinese Food and watching a movie like Kung Fu Panda. In case you're new to my blog here are a few of the recipes I've shared in the past!

                                                                    Chinese Noodles

                                                               Fortune Cookies

                                                     Spaghetti Squash Chinese Noodles


Do you have a favorite Homemade Chinese Food Dish? My favorite homemade Chinese is Sweet and Sour Chicken! I'd never even attempted to make it on my own until a few years ago when my Friend Stacey made it for me! I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. how easy and good it was. honestly I like it better than take out! It's just so good! She found it on Pinterest of course! Its all over the place now. So I thought I would share mine with you!

*note no pictures because I forgot to add the SUGAR!!! I'll update it with pictures next time I make it! But it's still a great recipe and I recommend you try it this Chinese New Year!

Ingredents:

• 3-4 Chicken Breasts, boneless skinless
• 1 cup Cornstarch
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup Canola Oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Sweet and Sour Sauce

• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 4 TBSP Ketchup
• 1/2 cup White Vinegar
• 1 TBSP Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• Directions:
• • Start by preheating your oven to 325° degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into chunks. In a Zip top bag add the salt and pepper and the Cornstarch, add the cut up chicken and close the bag, shake it to cover all the chicken. then dip the pieces of Chicken into the eggs.
  • Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and pan-fry chicken pieces just until slightly browned but not cooked through. Place chicken in a 9×13-inch greased baking dish.
  • Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Pour evenly over the chicken. Bake chicken for one hour, uncovered. During the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.
  • Serve immediately.
  • *Tip I always double the Sweet and Sour Sauce!
  •                        Enjoy
  • 
    

Chinese New Year: Homemade Fortune Cookies

Do you celebrate Chinese New Year? We have since Man-Child was little, we used to watch Kung Fu Panda or Mulan and eat Chinese food, some years we would get take out and some years I make everything. The one thing I've never even attempted to make is Fortune Cookies. I love the idea of getting to customize the fortunes!

After attempting to make these I now know why I've never tried it before! They are tricky little buggers! I'm petty sure that not even one of them looks like a fortune cookie! But that's gonna have to be ok! If you go by taste alone they are AMAZING! The texture is pretty good too, trust me I ate all the ones that didn't turn out;) it's not quite as crispy as the restaurant kind but I'm ok with that!

Here's what you'll need:

1 Egg White

1/8 tsp Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

1/4cup Flour

1/4cup Sugar

2 TBSP Water

Here's how you make it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Write fortunes on thin strips of paper. Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. In a small bowl combine the Flour, Salt and Sugar. Then combine into the Egg Whites. Add in the water and mix, it should be similar to a thin pancake batter. Spoon teaspoonfuls of batter onto parchment, and spread into 3 inch circles. You want to just do a few, like only 2 to a sheet. Bake for about 5 -7 minutes until the cookies are slightly browned around the edges. Remove from the pan with a greased spatula, place onto a wood cutting board, then place the fortunes in the middle. Fold in half and then bend them in the middle so the points touch, place into a muffin tin so they hold their shape while they cool.

Enjoy