Using chicken thighs with the bone in makes this meal a little more affordable. The sauce can easily be doubled to use for another time, perhaps for sweet and sour pork?
Serves: Six to eight
Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 8-10 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
- salt and pepper to taste
- fresh chopped coriander (optional), to serve
- steamed rice, to serve
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 200ml malt vinegar
- 130ml Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
- 80g sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 80g fresh ginger, sliced
- 1 red chilli, cut in half
- 1/2 medium red or yellow capsicum, thinly sliced
- 1x400g tin diced Italian tomatoes
- 1/2 pineapple, cored and diced into 5mm pieces (you can use a can, drained as well)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C. Make the sweet and sour sauce by mixing together the vinegar, rice wine, sugar, Five Spice and salt in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Stir over high heat until sugar has dissolved.
Bring the mixture to a boil and add the garlic, ginger and chilli, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Add in the capsicum, tomatoes and pineapple, simmering for another 3 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and remove from heat.
Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Allow pan to heat for a few minutes before adding the seasoned chicken thighs, skin down. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes. Turn chicken over and cook for another 3 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a large baking dish and pour sweet and sour mixture over, baking in the oven for 8 minutes.
Serve with steamed rice and fresh coriander.
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