Sweet and Sour Chicken

This recipe comes from Karen Martini's new book Everyday, well worth purchasing!!!

6-8  Chicken thighs with skin still on

Sweet and sour sauce

200ml malt vinegar

130ml Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

100g sugar

2 tsp salt flakes

4 garlic cloves, crushed or finely grated

80g fresh ginger, cut into thin batons

1 long red chilli, cut on the diagonal

Half medium yellow capsicum, cut into thin batons

1 x 400g tin diced Italian tomatoes

Half pineapple, cored and cut into 5mm dice

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional).

2. To make the sweet and sour sauce, place the vinegar, wine or sherry, sugar and salt in a heavy-based saucepan and stir over high heat until the sugar dissolves.

3. Bring to the boil, add the garlic, ginger and chilli, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the capsicum, tomatoes and pineapple and simmer for a further three minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, remove from the heat and set aside.

4. Put a large, heavy-based frying pan over high heat and allow to heat for four minutes. Season the chicken thighs, then add, skin side down, to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the chicken for eight minutes, then turn over and cook for a further three minutes. Transfer to a baking dish and pour over the sweet and sour sauce. Bake in the oven for eight minutes until bubbling.

5. Scatter with the coriander and serve with steamed rice.