My favorite take out item has got to be sweet and sour chicken and my favorite place to get it is Mandarine Pine here in Lewiston Idaho. It’s been the same recipe since I was a kid. You want to talk about comfort food - for me it’s Mandarine Pine sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice, the house chow mien and egg drop soup (AKA Classic Dinner Combo 1).

During the initial months of the pandemic lockdown, Ross and I dedicated a part of our budget to ordering from local restaurants at least once a week, if not twice. We have a real passion for supporting local family owned businesses in our community. I was very spoiled to enjoy my favorite dish at least once a month.

As the pandemic started to settle and routines (and budgets) were getting back to normal, we sat down as a family and decided to make some changes for our health. A big part of that decision was to cook at home more, where we can control the amount of processed foods we consume.

So of course I had to find myself a sweet and sour recipe to work into our meal plan rotation. The sauce is the key, and I haven’t been able to match the Mandarine Pine concoction, this one is pretty darn good. I can’t take the credit for it though, I found this recipe from good ole’ Pinterest. Sabrina over at dinnerthendessert.com created this delicious recipe.

Now for the Notes

TEMPURA CHICKEN

If you are new to frying chicken I have some trial and error notes for you.

First of all - you need the appropriate pot. Not all cookware is adequate for deep frying with hot oil. This isn’t something to mess around with. Using the wrong pot for this task can end up in fire, serious injury or, least of all, ruined cookware.

Anytime I’m deep frying I use my 6 quart dutch oven. These can be expensive, but if you stay diligent you can find them on sale for a great deal. I suggest you get a reputable brand like Lodge. If you’re going to invest in a pot, invest in one that will last for a long time. Why do I use a dutch oven? Because it’s got a lot of good workspace, its deep and it’s heavy. They are designed for this kind of task.

Tip number 2: Let the oil heat over medium high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F. Don’t even think about starting to drop that chicken in the pot until it has reached temp. Here is my favorite thermometer for oil (and also for candy making)

On to DREDGING: you’ll want to set this up like an assembly line. your line goes - raw chicken bowl, dredge bowl 1 (beaten eggs), dredge bowl 2 (corn starch and flour) hot frying oil, bowl with lid and paper towel. Assign your right hand to the egg bowl only and your left hand to the corn starch bowl only (or opposite if you’re set up on the left side of the oven). Work with a couple of pieces at a time. Dip into the egg, coat the entire piece, let the excess drip off and drop it into the corn starch. With the other hand coat all sides of the chicken in the corn starch and drop into the oil. Don’t over crowd the oil pan or else it’ll be difficult to flip them over.

Cook the chicken pieces on each side for about 3 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Flip with an oil spider. When both sides have been cooked, remove from the oil with the spider and place into the bowl with the paper towel liner. Repeat this process until all of the chicken has been cooked.

PREPPING THE VEGGIES

Chop the peppers and the onion into larger pieces than you might normally dice veggies. In this dish they are a star of the show! I like to use a fresh pineapple when available, but a can of pineapple chunks works just as well.

SERVING

I like to serve with sticky white rice made in the InstantPot because the sweet and sour sauce is sooooo good over the rice and also because it’s my son's favorite! Often we like to make egg rolls or dumplings too. I generally serve in a pasta bowl with chopsticks and I even have a secret stash of fortune cookies that I give out at the end of the meal to bring that take out feeling home.