Sunday, April 26, 2009

Red and Gold Sweet and Sour Chicken

I think I have said before how much I love my slow cooker but I don't use it a lot because it is hard to cut the ingredients down to single servings. When I saw this recipe I realized that I could do a lot of variations on the leftovers so I just made the whole thing. The recipe is from the Mabel Hoffman Crockery Cookery cook book.









I did a lot of the prep work the night before so that I could just throw everything in the slow cooker the next morning.




You need a nice ripe mango, they should be slightly soft to the touch but not mushy.

If you don't know how to cut mango, here is a link to a great Youtube video that shows you a couple of techniques.




I cut the two sides around the seed.




Then cut almost to the the skin into even cubes.




Then flip it inside out and cut off the delicious mango flesh. It is so simple!




You will also need a red pepper. Chop it into bite sized pieces.




You will need an onion.




Slice it up as well into whatever size you like. I love onion so I don't mind large pieces.




The recipe calls for jicama, but I had apples on hand so I used those instead.




Cut them into nice match sticks. I put all of those prepped veggies in the fridge and went to bed.




The next day I got the remaining ingredients. Hoisin sauce, which is a sweet asian BBQ sauce. Corn Starch, chicken broth, brown sugar and some red wine vinegar.




I then got out my chicken, you will need about one whole chicken's worth of meat, but I used just thighs. I also got out my prepped onions from the night before. Both are looking stylish in my Butterfly Gold refrigerator dishes.




Combine the broth, sugar, vinegar, hoisin and some salt in a bowl.




Put the Onions and the chicken in the slow cooker.




Pour the liquid mixture over the chicken and onions and put the lid on the slow cooker and set it on low. You are now free to go about your business for the next 5 hours. Go read a book, play with your dogs, or do whatever it is that makes you happy. Do not do housework or anything stressful or it could seriously effect the outcome of the food. Really.




After the 5 hours is up it is time to thicken it up and add some more ingredients. Turn the slow cooker to the High setting and dissolve the cornstarch in some water. Stir that in and add in the red peppers. Put the lid back on and let it cook for 15 minutes. I also put some water on to boil so that I could cook up some egg noodles to serve this over.




When the 15 minutes is up, add in the jicama or apples and the mango. Let it cook for about 5 minutes more. Get your noodles in the water if you are serving with pasta.




Drain the noodles when they are done and serve with the delicious sweet and sour chicken. The flavors of the sweet fruit with the savory chicken and sauce was a perfect complement. After it had cooled I stripped the meat from the remaining chicken and made some stir fries with the remaining veggies and some rice. It is a great dish with a lot of leftover potential.

6 comments:

  1. That looks good. I just purchased a new crockpot and am always on the lookout for tasty recipes. Thanks for sharing.
    Joyce

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  2. Tell us about your pink knife! I have seen similar at HomeGoods near my house but am not sure if I should get one??

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  3. this looks delicious. i am definitely bookmarking it for later.

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  4. I have seen that knife on QVC... and OH the leftover poential! I would shred the chicken and put it in a wheat tortilla the next day... mmmm sweet and meaty burrito...

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  5. That sounds great!

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  6. I wish I had a mango right now, to try that cutting technique.

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