The other night I was making dinner and she asked what I was making. I open the oven and showed her and she was all "I love that mom! Thank you, thank you that is my favorite dinner!" She has many "favorite dinners but she did eat this with gusto asking for seconds and thirds until I had to sequester the rest so dad had some to eat when he got home. He was at school that night working on his masters.
If you like that kind of sweet and sour thing going this is a big hit. For the pickier eaters, like Rachel's younger sister I just left some of the breaded chicken out of the sauce to be more like chicken nuggets which is in almost every kids wheel house and let me make an acceptable dinner for all with no extra work. Win win.
Mandarin Chicken
2 chicken breasts, in cubes
1 cup flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 tsp garlic salt
3 eggs
vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a shallow dish, combine the flour, cornstarch and garlic salt, stirring to distribute evenly. In a separate dish, beat the eggs together.
2. Heat 1/2 - 1 inch of oil in a skillet. Coat the chicken by dredging it in the flour, then coating in the egg and last into the flour again.
3. Fry the chicken in small batches in the oil. Cook just until crisp. The do not need to brown or cook all the way through. Place the fried chicken in a 9 x 9 baking dish.
3. Mix the remaining ingredients for a sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
4. Bake uncovered 30 to 45 minutes, turning the chicken over halfway through to coat evenly with the sauce.
