Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

Batter to coat chicken:
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Sauce:
• 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained (juice reserved)
• 2 green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup water (divided)
• 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
• 2 drops orange food color
• 1/4 cup cornstarch


Directions
1. Combine flour, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, salt, white pepper, and egg. Add 1 1/2 cups water gradually to make a thick batter. Stir to blend thoroughly. Add chicken pieces, and stir until chicken is well coated.
2. Heat oil in skillet or wok to 360 degrees F (180 degrees C). Fry chicken pieces in hot oil until golden. Remove chicken, and drain on paper towels.
3. In a saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water, sugar, vinegar, reserved pineapple juice, and orange food coloring. Heat to boiling. Add pineapple and green bell pepper pieces and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Turn off heat. Combine 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1/4 cup water in a cup and mix thoroughly; slowly stir mixture into saucepan. Continue stirring until sauce thickens.
4. Spoon sauce over chicken and eat with rice and egg rolls.

Freezer version
Freeze fried chicken and sauce separately. On serving day: Thaw sauce. Pull chicken out of freezer as oven is preheating to 350 degrees. Place chicken on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes to crisp outside. In meantime, put sauce in a pot and heat through.

EXTRA TIPS
-Don't pour sauce over all of the chicken. If you have leftovers it makes the chicken soggy. Store them separately in the fridge and the next day, crisp the chicken in the oven at 350 for 10 ish minutes or pan fry the chicken for a couple of minutes, then put sauce on individual portions.

-If you don't have self-rising flour, just add an additional 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to the regular flour.

-The full version makes A LOT, so I like to double the sauce, or if I'm making it just for my family, I half the batter and the chicken and keep the regular amount of sauce.