Vegan Chinese sweet and sour chicken

Eating at a Chinese restaurant is something I can really enjoy at times. When I still lived in Rotterdam, I regularly went to the Old Place. This is completely vegetarian but secretly almost 100% vegan. In Barcelona, I have a Chinese friend and she can cook Chinese food so well that I haven’t actually eaten in a restaurant (except with her) since then. Then at some point I thought, I’m going to give it a try myself. And I can tell you, making Chinese sweet and sour chicken vegan is really not difficult!

Small note: vegan Chinese sweet and sour chicken should not be eaten too often. In fact, the sweet and sour sauce really contains a lot of sugar. Delicious for your sweet taste buds, but less delicious for your body. Unlike when you eat at a restaurant and are at the mercy of how much sugar they use, luckily while cooking at home you can choose how much sugar to add!

Chinese sweet and sour chicken

Delicious Chinese sweet and sour chicken but vegan. Enjoy the interplay of sweet and sour flavors and decide how much sugar to add.
Preparation 15 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Number of persons 4 persons

Ingredients

  • 275 gram seitan or vegan chicken pieces
  • 1 green bell pepper in pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper in pieces
  • 2 slices of fresh ginger
  • 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • 2 spring onions or piece of leek in rings
  • 1 small onion quartered and taken apart
  • 2 pineapple slices in pieces
  • 2 tsp red wine
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 3 dl oil
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1,5 dl sweet-and-sour sauce see below
  • Salt and pepper
  • Flower

Sweet and sour sauce

  • 180 gram white sugar
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 el tomato ketchup
  • 1 dl white vinegar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 5 dl water

Preparation

  • First, make the sweet and sour sauce: in a saucepan, bring water, vinegar and sugar to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then stir in tomato paste and tomato ketchup. Bring to a boil again. Meanwhile, make a binding porridge: mix cornstarch with 2 tbsp. water. Mix the binding pulp into the contents of the pan while stirring until the sauce is slightly bound. Season to taste with salt and pepper
  • Make a marinade of cornstarch, 1 tbsp red wine, soy sauce, ½ dl water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, salt and pepper. Place the seitan or vegan chicken pieces in it for at least half an hour
  • Get seitan or vegetarian chicken pieces through your flour
  • In a wok over high heat, heat 3 dl of oil
  • Fry seitan or veggie chicken pieces until nicely colored. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain
  • Clean wok (or get a new one) and heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Stir-fry garlic and ginger until they begin to smell nice
  • Then add onion, bell bell pepper and spring onion and fry for 1 minute
  • Add 1 tbsp red wine and the sweet and sour sauce. Bring everything to a boil
  • Then add seitan or vegan chicken pieces
  • Make a binding paste of 1 tbsp. cornstarch and 2 tbsp. water. Add until sauce thickens slightly

Chinese sweet and sour chicken

This Chinese sweet and sour chicken is delicious with some white rice! Fancy more Asian snacks?

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