Hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to classic Americanized Chinese cuisine with a look at the Sweet Fire Chicken from Panda Express. For those new to the channel, in this series, we have been deconstructing classic dishes from Americanized Chinese cuisine (including a growing list of dishes from the Panda Express menu now), then seeing what they might look like when reconstructed through the lens of more traditional wok cooking. For those not familiar, the Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken at first glance is pretty much what you might expect from a Panda Express fried chicken dish, featuring a battered and fried diced chicken, red bell pepper, onion, and finally one of my very favorites, canned pineapple.
The inclusion of pineapple of course being an homage to one of the most classic Chinese American dishes of all time which is Sweet and Sour Chicken, wherein the syrup that the pineapple is canned in is used to create the dish's signature sweet and savory glaze. So! For our version today we'll be borrowing a bit from the sweet and sour chicken recipe that we assembled a few months back, though we will need to make some key adjustments for our Sweet Fire Chicken here as we do our very, very best to recreate the light, bright color that appears to be key to this dish (this of course has always been tricky, because most elements that we derive umami from like soy sauce, for example, will almost certainly be working against us in this endevour). Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) fine minced ginger
1 red bell pepper
1/2 medium white onion
4oz canned pineapple
2 medium chicken thighs, or 1 breast
1/2 cup potato starch
64oz fryer oil
peanut oil
gochugaru
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup pineapple syrup
1 tbsp oyster sauce
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
LARGE DICE the onion, set aside
LARGE DICE the bell pepper, set aside
LARGE DICE the pineapple, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
LARGE DICE the chicken thighs, then combine with all marinade ingredients and marinate for 15 minutes
COMBINE the chicken with the potato starch, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT the fryer to 350F, then fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and set aside
REMOVE the fryer oil, then reheat the wok over high heat, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic and ginger, then saute for 15 seconds until fragrant
ADD the bell pepper and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes
ADD the pineapple and toss to combine, then remove from the wok
REDUCE the heat to medium low, then add the sauce and let simmer for 3-5 minutes until thickened
ADD the chicken and veggies back to the wok and toss to combine
SERVE over rice and finish with gochugaru