Sweet and Sour Sauce

One of my roommates in college made this and shared the recipe, so unfortunately, I am unable to cite the source other than "a roommate." It's been a few years. After making this sauce, I haven't bought bottled sweet and sour sauce. I still get that sweet chili sauce though. I have no clue how to duplicate that glorious condiment. As for this sauce, it doesn't look like your traditional sweet and sour sauce because it's made with all ingredients we can pronounce. It doesn't have any red food coloring or glucsoliodium binitrodinrosphorus. Yes, I made that up. Back to the point. When my brother first saw it, he was hesitant because it was watery and bright red; However, his attitude quickly changed when he tasted it. "Dang! This is good!" Yeah, that's right. Back off my not-so-red sweet and sour sauce. Another difference is the presence of chunks. Personally, I love the added pineapple, carrots, and red pepper. If you're not a fan of chunky sauces, leave them out. Bam! You still have a delicious, homemade sauce.Sweet and Sour Chicken

Batter:
1/2 c flour
1/4 c cornstarch
1/2 c cold water
1/2 t salt
1 egg

Sauce:
20 oz pineapple chunks in syrup
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white vinegar
1/2 t salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced or grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T corn starch
2 T cold water
1 medium red pepper, cut into 3/4 inch pieces

Chicken in 1 inch cubes
Oil for frying

I had company come for dinner tonight, so I only have the one picture. Sorry! This is such an easy recipe, that you can probably do it without the tutorial pictures.

Pour oil in a saucepan to a depth of about 3 inches. Heat it over medium-high heat.

Prepare the sauce. Drain the pineapple syrup into a cup measuring cup. Add enough water to make one cup. Put it in a saucepan. Heat the syrup mixture, brown sugar, white vinegar, salt, soy sauce, and carrots over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce the hear to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 6 minutes. Mix the corn starch and water. Stir it into the sauce. Add the pineapple (I like to cut it into smaller chunks) and red bell pepper. Heat to boiling; stirring constantly. Bowl and stir one minute more. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer until the meal is ready.

Combine all the batter ingredients in a bowl. Dip the cut chicken into the batter and drop it into the heated oil. Sometimes I will take a little bit of the batter on my fingers and let it drop into the oil to make sure it is hot enough. If it is hot enough, the oil will rock and roll around the drop. Let the chicken cook in the oil for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. I do about 12 pieces at a time in my pan. When it is done, drain it on a paper-towel lined plate. Transfer the chicken pieces to a cookie sheet and keep in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

Put the sweet and sour sauce over the chicken.

I serve this with the fried rice, cream cheese rangoons, and steamed vegetables. The rangoons and rice are posted on here, too.