Sweet Fire Chicken
I had high hopes for this recipe, and let me tell you - it was delicious. It was finger licking good. I am so happy that Holly from Life in the Lofthouse, shared this recipe on her blog (Sweet Fire Chicken). I wanted to try it when she first showed it, but I always forgot about it. But then she posted it on her Monday Menu, and I decided to give it a try this week.
... so now that I got your hopes up...and let me reiterate that it was delicious....however, maybe I was exhausted from a long work day or because I didn't instantly start it when I got home at 5... but this was a lot more involved than I had planned. It was a lot of work, a lot of stuff going on at the same time and A LOT of dishes. Ugh. I hate doing dishes. I almost passed up working on the post tonight, because I'm exhausted. And to be quite honest, the dishes are sitting around the sink screaming "WASH ME" or "I'm going to stink up your house!" Ugh.
I went into the recipe not prepared. Holly had stated in the ingredients that the chicken and vegetables should be chopped, prior to starting the recipe. I didn't do that...which probably is why I felt so overwhelmed making this. From beginning to end, it took about an hour to make.
As a disclaimer, I doubled the amount of chicken and the sauce made. In the pictures, I originally had photographed the single amount of the recipe, but as I was looking at it - I thought "this won't be enough for Justin and work lunch". He enjoys his food - he's lucky to have a good metabolism.
Sweet Fire Chicken
(the ingredients below(including sauce ingredients) are what I used to "double" the original recipe)
- 2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 to 6 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 cup corn starch
- 4 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple pieces, drained
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 and 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sweet red chili sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons cold water
- 3 Tablespoons corn starch
Dice the red pepper, onion and mince the garlic. Put them aside (but don't mix the garlic with the other 2).
Dice the chicken into bite size pieces. Salt and pepper your newly diced pieces of chicken.
Crack and whisk the eggs into a medium size bowl.
Put the flour and corn starch into their own bowls. I placed in the row that I will be dipping them, with a clean plate at the end for placement. Dip a handful of chicken into the bowl, one at a time. Shake off excess corn starch and put it on the clean plate. Repeat for the rest of the chicken.
Heat the vegetable oil in the pan on medium/high heat. This is when I started my "Success" rice, which takes 8-10 minutes to boil once water is boiling. I put a family size (makes 3 cups) bag and a small size (2 cups) bag into the 3 quarts of water.
Once the oil is hot and ready, slowly place the chicken into the skillet --- be careful --- the oil may start popping and fizzing. My chicken ended up absorbing the oil which was fine because the pieces did not stick to the bottom of the pan. I continued to stir and flip the chicken for a while.
*Side note: I used to work in a restaurant while up at college. Through all the classes and training they put me through for food illnesses and under cooking food, especially chicken - I am extremely paranoid about making sure my chicken is cooked through. Justin however doesn't really enjoy "moist" chicken - even if it temps at 165°F...he prefers it to be on the dryer side. With that being said, on here I will point out what the original recipe says and how I did it - just so you don't over cook your chicken.
So, for my chicken - since I doubled the recipe (and the ingredients list on this blog - is doubled) my pan was a bit over full with chicken, although I kept the chicken on the heat for twice as long as Holly's recipe calls (which is 12 minutes) - I ended up throwing it in the oven at 350 for about 5 to 10 minutes (I threw the chicken in as the oven was heating up) -- worked out perfectly for us.
AS THE CHICKEN was frying....
Begin making the sauce. Grab a large sauce pan (I used a 3 or 4 quart), whisk together the garlic, sugar, water, red pepper flakes, sweet chili sauce and salt. Put it on a burner on High heat. Once it's boiling, keep whisking it.
Once the pan is on the burner, throw the bell pepper, onion and pineapple in a skillet. This took me the entire time that it took the sauce to boil.
Stir the cold water and corn starch in a small bowl. Keep whisking until the sauce is boiling, add the corn starch mixture. Continue whisking until sauce begins thickening - it will begin to rise in the pan. Reduce the heat to low... it should be a nice thick sauce at this point.
When the vegetable and fruit has been pan toasted (ie: onions softened, pineapple with a slight toast or browning), combine the sauce and chicken into the skillet.
Since I had thrown the chicken in the oven, I only had to stir it a few times and then it was ready to serve. I turned off the heat and waited for the rice to finish.
Serve it on a bed of rice and enjoy!
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Summarized version for your cookbook!
- 2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 to 6 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 cup corn starch
- 4 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple pieces, drained
Sauce Ingredients:
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 and 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sweet red chili sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons cold water
- 3 Tablespoons corn starch
Dice the red pepper, onion and mince the garlic. Put them aside (but don't mix the garlic with the other 2). Dice the chicken into bite size pieces. Salt and pepper your newly diced pieces of chicken.
Crack and whisk the eggs into a medium size bowl. Put the flour and corn starch into their own bowls. Dip a handful of chicken into each of the bowls, one at a time. Shake off excess corn starch. Repeat coating for the rest of the chicken pieces.
Heat the vegetable oil in the pan on medium/high heat. Once the oil is hot and ready, slowly place the chicken into the skillet. Continue flipping and moving the chicken around for about 15 to 20 minutes, until cooked through.
Begin making the sauce. Grab a large sauce pan, whisk together the garlic, sugar, water, red pepper flakes, sweet chili sauce and salt. Put it on a burner on High heat. Once the pan is on the burner, throw the bell pepper, onion and pineapple in a skillet.
Stir the cold water and corn starch in a small bowl. Keep whisking until the sauce is boiling, add the corn starch mixture. Continue whisking until sauce begins thickening. Reduce the heat to low.
When the vegetable and fruit has been pan toasted (ie: onions softened, pineapple with a slight toast or browning), combine the sauce and chicken into the skillet. Stir until chicken is warm.
Serve it on a bed of rice and enjoy!
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