kip in zoetzure saus (sweet & sour chicken)

in japan, when i tell people that my husband is dutch, people always ask me what a typical dutch dish is (japanese people in general have a high interest in culinary subjects. food can be a central topic of a conversation with strangers). i always stumble over my answer to this question, so does my husband actually. he always says “oh we eat potatoes, meat and veggies, meatballs, french fries, herrings, white asparagus, rabbit or venison for chirstmas…” a funny thing however is that he never comes up with a name of a particular dish for some reason.

not sure if this dish is dutch dutch, but “kip in zoetzure saus,” sweet & sour chicken, happens to be my favorite dish which i have ever eaten in holland. the first time i went to visit his parents there, his mum cooked this dish for us, because of my cravings for rice after staying in holland for a week or so.

the recipe appears to be influenced by indonesian food. the sauce is made with 1/2 chopped onion simmered in oil (3 tb spoons), 1 tb spoon of “ketjap” (indonesian soy sauce – but i use soy sauce instead), curry powder (i use garam masara), vinegar (1 tb spoon), sugar (2 tb spoons), tomato sauce (i use 10 – 15 cherry tomatoes instead) and 5 tb spoons of pineapple flavoured curry cream (you can get it in a grocery store in holland. its consistency is very similar to yogurt, but sweater in taste). after the sauce is ready, put 200g – 300g of chicken breast, lightly fried earlier in olive oil and with white wine, and simmer altogether in low heat for 10 minutes or so. add salt & pepper to taste (but not too much salt). served with brown rice.

the salad is also his mum’s recipe – endive salad with chive dressing. very refreshing.