Fellow coeliacs will be fully aware of the problems when eating Chinese food – eating out in a Chinese restaurant or having a Chinese takeaway is a big no-no.
The culprit of this block on Chinese food is the humble Soy Sauce.
As all you fellow coeliacs know gluten can hide in the most seemingly innocuous of places (gravy granules anyone) and Soy Sauce is one of those places.
The annoying thing to me is that there are plenty of gluten-free Soy Sauce brands and types on the market, including Tamari, Kikkoman, Yutaka and Shoyu.
However, as with many gluten-free alternatives, these can be expensive and so from a business point of view you can’t blame the restaurants in not using them.
As a family, we enjoy Chinese food and so coming up with our own gluten-free recipes is a must.
This recipe for sweet and sour chicken balls doesn’t need soy sauce but is a delicious sweet and sour dish which the kids love as well.
If you have kids and they won’t try these just tell them they are chicken nuggets and you shouldn’t have any problems. They resemble chicken nuggets so well that a white lie can’t be argued against.
Ingredients
- 100g Plain Flour
- 4 dessert spoon Cornflour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 150 ml of water
- 2 Chicken Breasts, cubed
- Jar Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Sauce
Method
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the water, mix to a thick paste
- Add the diced chicken and leave to stand for 10 minutes
- Heat your deep fat fryer to 170 degrees
- Leaving the basket in the oil, carefully add the chicken and fry for around 5 minutes
- Remove the basket and increase the temperature to 190 degrees
- Cook the chicken for a second time for around 5 minutes, until golden brown
- Remove and drain on kitchen paper
- Meanwhile, warm up the sweet and sour sauce
- Serve the chicken balls with the sweet and sour sauce poured over the top, or served on the side depending on preference
