Stir-fried sweet & sour chicken (with apricot jam)

Few weeks ago, I was browsing these magazines in the Library cafe while waiting to meet a colleague came from overseas headquarters. It was a Saturday afternoon and we had arranged for coffee before heading to the office for a special workshop. Saw this recipe that caught my attention ... using apricot jam in the cooking. I've never used apricot jam (or any other jam) in cooking although I've used it in baking cakes and cookies or as spread in swiss rolls.

My usual cooking of a sweet & sour dish would be first pan fried or deep fried the seasoned meat coated with some flour,  set aside. Stir fried some vegetable like capsicums, carrot with some onions / garlics and make the sweet & sour sauce using tomato ketcup or plum sauce, add some sugar and lime juice then pour back the meat, quick tossing till meat immersed/coated the sauce with flavour.

Decided to try this since it's quick and easy:

Stir-fried sweet & sour chicken
Adapted from Everyday Food magazine with slight modification made in blue

Serves 4, total time : 20 mins
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1.5 pounds (680g) boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces. (I used 400g chicken breast, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt for about 30 minutes)
Salt
1 three-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks.
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 small serrano chile, seeded if desired and thinly sliced (omitted)
1/2 cup (115g) apricot jam (I used 80g cos that's all left in the jar)
1/4 pineapple, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (1.5 cups) (I used canned pineapple)
2 bunches scallions (spring onions), trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces (replaced with some Japanese cucumber)
2-3 tablespoons white vinegar

Method:
1) Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high 1 minute (I suppose a frying pan or wok can be used), then add 1 tablespoon oil and swirl to coat. Add chicken, season with salt, and cook 1 minute. Stir in ginger, garlic, and chile and cook until chicken is almost cooked through, about 3 minutes.

2) Stir in jam and pineapple, then add scallions. Cook until chicken is cooked through and scallions are bright green and tender, about 3 minutes. Season with vinegar and salt.
Serve with rice.

As my big kids don't eat spring onions, so I substituted with Japanese cucumber since I've got some in the fridge. Interestingly, this dish is delicious ... Although no sugar added, guess that the sweet tangy apricot jam 'infused' pineapple & vinegar striked a balance of the sweet & sourish taste.  They liked it and not surprised that they asked for another bowl of rice. Really tasty!

BTW, did I missed out some steps ? .... as I read through the recipe again,  I was wondering what happened to the balance 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil .... anyway I poured all 3 tablespoons of oil into pan.^-^

I am linking this post to Cook-Your-Book#13 organized by Joyce (Kitchen Flavours).