Passover is one of the more important holidays in the Jewish faith. It's a holiday to remember the suffering, strife, and ultimate freedom of jews from enslavement under the Pharoah's rule in Egypt. The reason behind eating matzoh for Passover is bcause the Jews were in a hurry  to leave Egypt, they had no time to wait for their bread to rise, they had to take what they could with them. Thus, the bread did not rise, resulting in a cracker-like consistency and taste. Matzoh is used in many different recipes for Passover, including my family recipe for this sweet and sour chicken.

What is sweet and sour chicken?

This recipe is called sweet and sour chicken because the sauce incorporates both sweet ingredients, such as sugar, and sour, such as lemon juice. The base of the sauce is tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes), but the added sugar and lemon juice balances out beautifully as it cooks with the chicken patties and chicken wings. This is a very easy recipe to follow, although it does take a little bit of prep ahead of time.

What do I need to prep for sweet and sour chicken?

A few tools you will need for this recipe include:

• A microplane or a grater to grate the white carrot into the chicken meat mixture.
• Two frying pans* (you might be fine with just one, but plan accordingly so that you get the sauce going and then can immediately use the pan for the chicken patties. I used my Always pan from Our Place for the onions and chicken wings, and then used the same pan for the patties, just added extra oil.
• A large stock pot. You'll need the room in the pot for the sauce and for the chicken when added in.
• A large mixing bowl for the chicken patties.

How do you prepare for making sweet and sour chicken?

Start by getting all of your ingredients together, such as opening up the cans of sauce, slicing the lemon open, measuring out the sugar, etc. It helps when your ingredients are prepped ahead of time so that you don't have to rush in the kitchen and accidentally hurt yourself or forget something. Once you have all of the ingredients, you'll start by sautéing the onions until fragrant and tender, approximately 5-7 minutes. Once the onions are cooked, add in the chicken wings and brown on all sides, cover and let steam for 10 minutes.

Let's get cooking, how do we make this dish?

Once the chicken wings and onions are done, add it to the large stock pot and pour in the chicken and onions. To the same point, add in the tomato sauce, juice of one whole lemon, and the sugar. Don't get worried that it's a lot of sugar, it's going to simmer for an hour or so, and it's going to yield a lot of servings. Then, prep the chicken patties, here's how:

1. Grate the white carrot into the ground chicken, eggs, and matzo meal. Combine the ground chicken, matzo meal, eggs together until it forms a sturdy and thick meat mixture.
2. Form golf-ball sized patties with the chicken mixture and place on a large plate. Repeat until all meat mixture is used.
3. Turn a large frying pan onto medium heat with the olive oil. Place several patties into the pan and brown, approximately 2 minutes per side. They do not need to be fully cooked as they'll cook in the sauce.
4. Place browned patties directly into the pot of sauce. Repeat until all patties are brown. Cover the pot of chicken and sauce let cook on a medium-low flame for 1 hour.

What should I pair this dish with for this holiday, or any other occasion?

During Passover, we stay away from bread or leavened goods such as pasta and breads, but you can absolutely pair this dish with:

• Rice
• Potatoes
• Steamed or sautéed vegetables, such as my garlic butter rainbow carrots.
• Or you can make this as an appetizer like I do and serve as the first course of a holiday meal.

No matter the occasion you make this recipe for, I know you will love making (and eating) it as much as we do. The tender, fluffy chicken patties tossed in the tangy homemade sweet and sour sauce will warm your heats and bellies just it does for me. Chag Sameach Pesach!