Sesame Chicken

Let me give you a sneak peek of what happens in my house pretty often - hubby and I make plans early in the day to go out to dinner, hubby and I get super lazy, hubby and I don’t feel like moving off the couch.  Usually at this point I force Steve to go get us some grub because I can’t bear the thought of peeling myself away from my Bethenny Ever  After reruns or HGTV, let alone putting on clothing suitable for picking up takeout.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, this scene was playing out and we were about to call the local chinese restaurant, I realized I had this Sesame Chicken recipe just waiting to be made.  Surprisingly, I had all the ingredients on hand and we had dinner on the table very quickly.  

The recipe is pretty great because of it’s flexibility.  I like my food extra spicy so I doubled the amount of Sriracha sauce listed.  Feel free to play around with the sauce and tailor it to your wants -- it’s pretty hard to mess up!  Cook up some white/brown rice and you have yourself some great “made at home” takeout, which is much healthier, much cheaper and most importantly, you don’t have to change out of your sweatpants and ratty t-shirt to get it!

Sesame Chicken

5 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

4 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into 3/4 in chunks

6 tsp canola oil

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 tsp grated peeled ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 c. low sodium chicken broth

3 tbsp sugar

3 to 4 tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp Sriracha sauce (I used 2 tsp then added more to my plate!)

sesame seeds for garnish

Cooked rice for serving

1. Whisk 3 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil and honey in a bowl. Toss in chicken and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from marinade using a slotted spoon.  Heat 2 tsp canola oil and cook chicken in 2 batches until browned.  Add 2 more tsp oil between batches.  Transfer to plate and wipe out skillet.
3. Heat remaining 2 tsp oil.  Add scallions, reserving some of the green parts for topping.  Add ginger and garlic and cook 1 minute.  Whisk in the broth, sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, Sriracha and 2 tbsp soy sauce until thickened.  Stir in 2 tsp sesame oil.
4. Return chicken to skillet.  Top with sesame seeds.  Serve over rice.