Ingredients

Method

• 1 x 440 g can of pineapple pieces in light syrup
• 2 lemons, juiced (about 5 tablespoons)
• 1 kg free-range chicken breasts
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 x 2 cm piece of ginger
• 2 T sambal oelek or chilli paste
• 1/2 dried chilli flakes
• 3 T tomato sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 200 g baby pak choi leaves
• fresh coriander, to garnish
• basmati rice or Chinese noodles, to serve

Method

Ingredients

Drain the pineapple pieces and blend it with the lemon juice until smooth.

Slice the chicken breasts through the centre and then into uniform strips.  Set side.

Finely chop the garlic and ginger.

Take out sambal oelek (or chilli paste), dried chilli flakes, tomato sauce, soy sauce, pak choi leaves and coriander, to garnish, and keep them close at hand.

Heat the canola oil in a wok or deep frying pan over a high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the chicken strips and stir fry just until slightly browned but not yet fully cooked. Remove and set aside.

Add the blended pineapple juice, sambal oelek, chilli flakes, tomato sauce and soy sauce.

With the heat still high, bring your sweet-and-sour sauce to a boil and allow it to reduce a bit.

Add the baby pak choi leaves and the stir fried chicken back to the wok and cook just until the pak choi leaves have wilted.

Serve immediately over steaming Jasmine rice or noodles and garnish with fresh coriander.

Cook's note: This recipe was created by Clement Pedro for his series: Man in the kitchen. Read up on his tips and tricks for perfecting sweet-and-sour chicken.

Sambal oelek is a classic Indonesian chilli paste. If you can find it, make our cheat's sambal oelek at home.