Cooking Instructions

Cut 400 grams of chicken thighs into 18 pieces.

If you end up with 17, or 19 pieces like I often do because I can not count, don’t worry. It ain’t the end of the world.

Then in a mixing bowl add chicken thighs, Chinese cooking wine, crack in 1 large egg, add soy sauce, add sesame oil and mix well.

Then add in 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and mix well again. Stick it in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.

Drop all the sweet and sour sauce ingredients into small mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Chop onions and bell peppers into chunks. Cut pineapples to about same size. And just set those aside.

Coat the chicken chunks with 3/4 cups of cornstarch. Cover each piece really well until it resembles powdered donuts.

Heat a large pot of oil until it’s 350°F (177°C). You know your oil is hot enough when you stick a wooden chopstick or wooden spatula in oil.

Anything wooden works fine. Just don’t stick in your grandma’s favorite wooden chair. Mine got seriously pissed when I did that.

Bubbles should instantly form around the chopstick. Then and only then you know the oil is hot enough.

Pro Tip: Maintaining oil temperature is important. If you place all 18 pieces of chicken at one time in the pot, the oil’s temperature will drop too fast.

As a result the chicken will get greasy with skin soggy. Just not tasty.

Fry your chicken pieces in 2 batches. In this case because you have 18 pieces of chicken (because I know you folks are much smarter than me) divide the chicken into 9 pieces.

Fry both batches until the pieces look golden brown.

How Long Should I Fry?

The easy answer is fry until the outer coating is light golden brown to golden brown.

The time it takes for that to happen depends on 2 things:

1. The size and thickness of pot.
2. The amount of fire under said pot.

For me I typically fry in a medium sized wok. Wok’s are thin and because of its unique shape the heat is focused on the bottom center.

Which means my chicken or anything I put in a wok matter of fact cooks quicker.

It only took about 3 minutes to fry my chicken to golden brown goodness.

And because I’m cooking in smaller batches the oil can maintain its hot temperature easier.

Makes sense right?

After frying both batches of chicken let it rest. It is time for the all important second fry.

That’s right, if you want to make it nice you gotta fry it twice!

Turn the heat up just slightly. Let oil heat up for about a minute. By now the oil is really hot.

Your chicken is cooked during the first fry. This second fry is just for 15 to 30 seconds.

But this second fry is going to shock the outer crust, removing extra leftover moisture.

As a result you’ll end up with crunchier skin! You can actually put all of the chicken in at one time too as a time saver.

Making the Sweet Sour Sauce

Heat a clean pan on medium high. When pan starts to smoke add a tablespoon cooking oil.

Then toss in bell peppers and onions (not the pineapples yet).

Cook vegetables until onions start to turn clear. Then add sweet sour sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens up. Which should immediately happen as soon as the sauce boils.

Switch heat off. Throw in pineapples and fried chicken. Toss gently. It may seem at first there’s not enough sauce.

But trust me it’s plenty enough to cover all of the chicken in a thick tasty sweet and sour sauce.

Enjoy with your favorite choice of rice!