Pineapple Chicken

Enjoyed this a lot! GREAT with hot sauce to serve.

Recipe description from cookbook Xi'an Famous Foods by Jason Wang (2020): Our small community of Chinese expats in Michigan was a jumble of families from all over China, so our potlucks were a melting pot of American food, Chinese American food, and traditional Chinese cooking. This dish is a result of those potlucks, a perfect example of how immigration and location can transform cultural flavors. Xi’an might not have a lot of sweet-and-salty combinations, but those flavors developed in other regions in southern China. Add in the influence of Chinese American takeout, and you get this: crispy bits of chicken in your classic sweet-and-sour sauce, with pineapple and ketchup (yes, ketchup). It’s exactly what you would think of when you think Chinese American food, but potentially better, fresher, from the take-out joint you wish were near your apartment.

One mother brought pineapple chicken to a Chinese New Year potluck, and my mom snagged the recipe to see if she could make her own version. Nothing about this dish was familiar to me back then, but when I have it now, it reminds me of a time when my family and I were trying so hard to blend into a new place, cooking with new ingredients. We ended up with flavors and combinations that on the surface looked strange but at their core struck something that felt like home (and tasted pretty damn good, too).

Ingredients

• 5 ounces (140 g) boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1½-inch (4 cm) pieces
• ½ teaspoon salt, divided
• ¾ teaspoon Shaoxing cooking wine, divided (or white wine, or sherry)
• ⅓ cup plus ¼ teaspoon (48 g) cornstarch, divided
• ¼ teaspoon plus 2 cups (480 ml) plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• ⅓ cup (75 ml) ketchup
• 2-inch (5 cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced into matchsticks
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
• ½ green bell pepper, cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) squares
• ½ red bell pepper, cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) squares
• 3½ ounces (100 g) canned pineapple cubes (if using a fresh pineapple, carefully remove and cut the flesh into ¾-inch/2 cm cubes; reserve the shell)
• 1 green onion, white part only, cut into slivers

Method

I am changing the instructions because I found them hard to parse. I've included the original instructions following my revised instructions.

Prep:

What are you serving it with - rice is nice. Start making the rice.

Vegetables:

• Chop your green and red pepper into small squares and put them aside in a small bowl.
• Peel and slice your garlic, peel and slice your ginger into matchsticks and put both of these together in a small bowl.
• Cut your green onion into slivers, and put it together with your chopped pineapple in a bowl.

Sauce:  

• Make your sweet and sour sauce combining ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cooking wine, along with the sugar, white vinegar, and ketchup. Mix evenly in one direction.
• In a separate small bowl (yes, another one) make a slurry of 1/4 tsp corn starch with a bit of water to mix together. Set aside. 
  

Chicken:

• You can follow these instructions for frying the chicken, or use some other chicken preparation method of your choice. 
• Get out the chicken and tenderize it by beating it with the blunt edge of a knife if you want. 
• Cut it into cubes. Put it in a bowl and mix the cubes with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp cooking wine.
• Grab a medium size bowl. Make a slurry of 1/3 cup cornstarch and 3 tbsp water. Mix in one direction to combine. Add 1/4 tsp vegetable oil and stir to combine again. 
•  In a large skillet, pour 2 cups of vegetable oil and set over medium heat. Right before the oil reaches the smoking point (400F or 200C, or when you start to see it shimmer), give the slurry a stir, and dip each piece of chicken in the slurry and carefully place in the oil. Don't overcrowd pan, work in batches if necessary. Cook chicken on one side for 1.5 minutes, flip over and cook another 1.5 minutes and repeat until all chicken pieces are fried.
• As you cook them, remove the pieces to a plate to incorporate again later.

Putting it all together: 

• Recipe suggests another large skillet. Instead, I deglazed the large skillet I used for the chicken with more of the cooking wine and scraped up all the brown bits to incorporate! Your choice. 
• If not the same skillet, grab another large skillet that can hold all of the ingredients comfortably, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over high heat. 
• Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until tender. 
• Add the sweet-and-sour sauce and cook un
  til slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. 
• Add the bell peppers and cook for about 2 minutes. 
• Add the pineapple, green onion, and fried chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute. 
• Add the second cornstarch slurry you made and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 1 minute, then serve. 

Original instructions if you so choose:

Tenderize the chicken by lightly beating it with the blunt edge of a knife. This improves the texture and lets the seasoning sink into the meat.

In a medium bowl, add the chicken along with ¼ teaspoon of the salt and ¼ teaspoon of the cooking wine. Mix well to combine.

In a small bowl, make a slurry by combining ⅓ cup (45 g) of the cornstarch with 3 tablespoons water to form a paste. Mix in one direction to combine. Add ¼ teaspoon of the vegetable oil and stir to combine.

In another small bowl, add the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and the remaining ½ teaspoon cooking wine, along with the sugar, white vinegar, and ketchup. Mix evenly in one direction. This is your sweet-and-sour sauce.

In a large skillet, pour in the 2 cups (480 ml) vegetable oil and set over medium heat. Make sure the slurry is not settled by stirring it in one direction. Right before the oil reaches the smoking point (about 400°F/200°C, or when you see it start to shimmer), dip each piece of chicken in the cornstarch slurry and then carefully place into the oil. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan, working in batches if necessary.

Cook the chicken on one side for 1½ minutes, flip over, and cook for another 1½ minutes. Remove to a plate. Repeat until all of the chicken pieces are fried.

In a small bowl, add the remaining ¼ teaspoon cornstarch along with a splash of water to make a second slurry. Stir in one direction to combine.

Heat the oil once more over medium heat until just below smoking point (about 400°F/200°C, or when you see it start to shimmer). Return the chicken to the pan, working in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes.

In another large skillet that can hold all of the ingredients comfortably, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over high heat. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until tender. Add the sweet-and-sour sauce and cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

Add the bell peppers and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the pineapple, green onion, and fried chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the second slurry you made and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 1 minute, then serve.