Bourbon Chicken

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, via my aunt Nikie Elwood

Ingredients:
for the chicken:
2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 Tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)
cornstarch (for dusting, optional)

for the sauce:
1 garlic clove (minced)
¼ teaspoon ginger (I used ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup apple juice (I had pear juice so that's what I used)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
½ cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Directions:
Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, and if you choose lightly dust with cornstarch. Heat oil in your wok and fry chicken bits in batches until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour into wok and bring to a boil. Add chicken bits back to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve over warm rice.

Notes:
My aunt Nikie submitted this recipe to an Elwood Family Cookbook that was compiled a few years ago, saying that it's her son Cardon's favorite weekday meal.  I finally got around to making it a few weeks ago, and I wish I hadn't taken so long to try it.  Totally yum.  But make sure you don't forget the brown sugar!  I did (that's what happens when I try to make dinner with a cranky baby) and it was definitely less than yum at first, so we had to sprinkle some brown sugar over our individual portions and kind of stir it in.  Crude, but it worked.  And next time I won't forget it in the first place.  Also, next time I think I might do like Nikie suggests and just skip the frying - it was messy and my skills with the corn starch didn't produce my desired crispy chicken anyway.