On February 19th at 11 a.m., Inter-Faith Food Shuttle volunteer culinary instructor Mark Crane returns for a Cooking Matters at Home Facebook livestream demonstration. In honor of February being American Heart Month, Mark will take a page from the American Heart Association’s own cookbook to show the preparation of a delicious Sweet & Sour Chicken recipe. Following is the heart-healthy, budget-friendly recipe he will follow and plenty of additional tips to customize it to your tastes! Find the event here to watch the class live.
SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN
SERVINGS: 4
SERVING SIZE: 2 cups chicken + 1/2 cup brown rice
INGREDIENTS:
• 4 bell peppers, 1 each of red, yellow, green, and orange if possible, seeded and cut into 1-inch strips (around 5 cups)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons canola oil (divided)
• 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless, thinly sliced chicken breast (cut into 1-inch strips)
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch (divided)
• 1 large egg white
• ½ cup pineapple juice + 1 cup pineapple chunks from 1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar substitute (granulated)
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• ¼ cup chopped scallions, to garnish
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (from 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice), to serve
• Plus additional ingredients and different quantities of the above ingredients if using the optional “alternate velveting technique” described in the Mark’s Ideas below.
DIRECTIONS:
1. Halve each bell pepper lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds; slice each one into 1-inch strips.
2. Prepare the sweet and sour sauce: into a small bowl, add ½ cup pineapple juice, cider vinegar, tomato paste, sugar substitute, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Stir together to combine.
3. Place the chicken breast pieces lengthwise onto a cutting board and cut 1-inch strips of chicken. Add to a bowl with egg white and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Stir together to combine.
4. Warm a large nonstick pan with 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; stirring frequently, sauté until chicken is fully-cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes depending on thickness. Remove from heat, transfer chicken to a plate, and cover with foil to keep warm.
5. Again warm the nonstick pan with 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper strips and stirring constantly, cook until pepper are soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the ginger, stirring and cooking for 30 seconds, before stirring in the reserved sweet and sour sauce and 1 cup pineapple chunks. Stir until sauce slightly thickens, about 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Stir in reserved chicken and cook another minute. Remove from heat and garnish with scallions.
7. Serve sweet and sour chicken over the brown rice.
QUICK TIPS:
• Mixing raw chicken slices with cornstarch and egg whites is a Chinese cooking technique called "velveting." It prevents meat from drying out while cooking in a stir-fry and provides a soft, velvety texture.
• Keep it Healthy: Mixing tomato paste with a low- or no-calorie sweetener is a short-cut to replace ketchup in a recipe without the extra sodium of the condiment.
• One teaspoon of ground ginger can be substituted for the fresh; just mix into the sweet and sour sauce in advance.
NUTRITION FACTS
Calories 471
Total Fat 9.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.4 g
Trans Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.4 g
Cholesterol 91 mg
Sodium 510 mg
Total Carbohydrate 57 g
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Sugars 26 g
Protein 36 g
MARK’S IDEAS:
• Sautéed mushrooms, steamed carrot slices, roasted garlic, diced sweet onion, steamed broccoli florets, steamed asparagus, steamed snow pea pods, and steamed sugar snap pea pods would all be great additions. A quality brand of frozen stir fry vegetables, partially steamed, and then added to the pan would work nicely and probably be less expensive than fresh vegetables.
• Converted, enriched, long-grain rice can be used instead of brown rice. It has more nutritional value than white rice and cooks faster than brown rice. Converted, enriched, long-grain rice has a noticeably different texture than the short or medium grain white rice you would normally find in a Thai, Japanese, or Chinese restaurant. It has a firmer bite and does not stick together. Trying to eat this style rice with chopsticks is . . . challenging.
• Cook the rice in low-sodium, fat-free chicken stock to increase flavor without additional calories and only a modest increase in sodium.
• Substituting ketchup for tomato paste with a low- or no-calorie sweetener adds only 15 calories but does add a whopping 450 mg sodium - - - approximately 20% of the RDA for sodium. A small (6 ounce) can of tomato paste has approximately three times more paste than this recipe calls for - - - so if you already have ketchup in the fridge and don’t have health issues with sodium, ketchup will be a less expensive option and you won’t have to figure out how to use 2/3 of a can of tomato paste either.
• The black pepper and ginger add a tiny touch of spicy heat to this recipe as it’s written. If you and your family likes more heat, try adding a small amount ( ~1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon) of dried red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper. A teaspoon or two of Sriracha or garlic chili sauce will also up the heat level while adding a fresh chili taste to the dish.
• This recipe calls for 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper. In general, black pepper is more aromatic and had more spicy heat than white pepper. White pepper has a more floral, earthy flavor and greater complexity. Most folks will not be able to tell the difference between black and white pepper when so little is in a recipe. If you decide to up the amount of pepper in this dish - - consider white pepper for the complex flavor it adds without bringing too much heat.
• The recipe calls for skinless, boneless, thinly sliced chicken breast. Less processed chicken (bones still in and skin on) generally costs less than skinless, boneless, thinly sliced chicken - - and chicken thighs frequently cost less than chicken breast. Pretty much any chicken parts will work well in this recipe so shop for what’s fresh and inexpensive. It really only requires a sharp knife and a little extra time to debone and skin the chicken yourself - - - plus you’ll have the bones and skin to make homemade chicken stock.
• This recipe uses chicken as the primary protein. Substituting lean pork for the chicken would be yummy and requires no additional changes to the recipe. Ounce for ounce, extra firm tofu contains more protein, calcium, and iron than chicken breast while having slightly fewer calories and no cholesterol. If using extra firm tofu, cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and skip Step 3 (the velveting process). Pick up the recipe at Step 4.
If you have an extra 15 - 20 minutes and the ingredients on hand, try this alternate velveting technique: Begin recipe preparation with the chicken - Step 3 above. Once cut into bite sized pieces, place the chicken into a medium sized mixing bowl and add 1 tablespoon of unseasoned rice wine vinegar, 3 to 4 drops of roasted sesame oil, and either 2 teaspoons of soy sauce or 1 tablespoon oyster sauce. Mix well to coat all chicken pieces, cover with plastic wrap, and place into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Continue the recipe at Step 1. After 15 minutes in the refrigerator, remove the bowl of now marinated chicken. In a separate small bowl, thoroughly whisk together 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 egg white, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add this mixture to the marinated chicken and stir to coat the chicken pieces. Cover and return to the refrigerator for 25 - 30 minutes. Pick up the recipe at Step 4.