Cooking Journey: Sesame Chicken

 

Wow look at me go! I don't think I've ever cooked so many things in my life previously. I'm really good at microwaving things and popping stuff into the oven. I actually, literally, have set a pot of water on fire before. A couple of months ago I accidentally (nobody warned me) used the forbidden element (again, Unbeknownst to me) and began boiling water only to turn around because it "smelt like something was burning" and find the pot, the element and the water (??) on fire. Needless to say, I didn't finish making the rice I intended to make that evening. FAST FORWARD to now: (I still don't know how to use a toaster oven) but I am so good at the standard oven. 

Sidebar: Can we talk about toaster ovens for a second, though? What IS the point of one? Is it if you do not have room/access to a regular oven? I always thought the toaster oven was like, a quicker way to make food instead of putting it in the regular oven but fries and chicken nuggets still take 20 minutes. Does anyone have an answer for this? *Googles "the difference between ovens and toaster ovens"* "Oh." I said out loud, disappointed. The actual difference is the toaster oven consumes less energy therefore making it a "greener choice." It literally stated that the regular oven is faster. Alright, this leads me to ask WHY would someone buy a toaster oven then????? Does anyone even look at their electricity bill anymore? Let's move on.. This is getting me (pre) heated. (See what I did there? Tried to make an oven joke. Emphasis on the try.) 

Alright well, I think it's safe to say I am full blown "cooking blog" mode now. Look how much I've already typed and haven't even made mention of what we're cooking yet. Giving you my entire life's story before I announce what you're even here for. (Hopefully you're here because you love my blogs and captivating titles.) 

TODAY we are making SESAME CHICKEN and potentially veggie/chicken fried cauliflower rice? Maybe just regular rice? I haven't decided yet. I also just disclosed that I am writing this before doing any actual sesame chicken cooking. EXPOSED. Whatever. Life is a journey. Or something. 

The recipe I am following today is from The Everything Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Cookbook by Audrey Roberts (if you're interested in purchasing this cookbook you can click the title of the book above or click HERE!) I found this cookbook in my local grocery store for $14.99 but you can also purchase it on amazon ($25.99) That's what I've linked. 

This cookbook isn't only for people who are trying to live gluten and dairy free. I found there's a TON of recipes in here that I sub "regular" ingredients for. A lot of recipes call for gluten-free flour but I just sub regular flour and anywhere it calls for a dairy alternative, you can use whatever you'd like for "milk." If anything, this cookbook is great because all the recipes are dairy free (no weird vegan substitutes) and dairy is what upsets my stomach but it's easy to use something "normal" instead of something gluten-free. This is getting confusing. Basically I'll keep the recipe dairy-free but forego the gluten-free stuff. So this sesame chicken calls for gluten-free soy sauce, gluten-free cornstarch and gluten-free flour. I am going to use regular soy sauce and regular flour and cornstarch. This recipe also calls for almond milk, I happen to drink oat, so I will use that instead. Typically the recipes I make from this cookbook ARE in fact dairy-free but typically not gluten-free. Okay, wow. 

Not pictured: chicken breast, green onion, sesame seeds

I'm sure I've mentioned this previously but the bonus of living at home is, my parents own every sauce, condiment and spice under the sun (okay maybe not, but it sure does feel like it--You should SEE the spice cupboard.) Pictured above are all the ingredients to make this dish, aside from the chicken itself, the green onion and sesame seeds (which I opted not to add). 

 

Basically the first step is to cut your chicken into 1/2" cubes. I have no idea how big or small this actually is so I kind of eyeballed it. I figured 1/2" cubes are probably "bite sized." (I was correct.) This recipe calls for 6oz of chicken and says it serves "4" (we've all eaten a box of KD, we know "serves 4" means one) I opted to get slightly more chicken than it called for and went with 7.7oz. I was also feeding my dad, after all.  

The next step, once you've diced your chicky is to mix all the dry ingredients, and then beat 1 egg in a separate bowl. This recipe says to put the dry ingredients into a large ziplock bag and shake up the chicken until it's entirely coated but, if I can avoid it, I prefer not to use ziplock bags. I found a bowl worked just fine.  

I plopped my chicken into the egg mixture then slowly began coating each and every piece. I did my best to ensure they were relatively evenly coated as this ensures even cooking and generally you don't want a piece of chicken that's 90% batter and 10% chicken. 

Honestly, I never "deep fry" anything so this was easily the scariest part of the process. I also was not using a thermometer to track how hot the oil was. I kinda waited for it to start boiling and then went for it, started adding chicken. Overall, very successful. Mind you, the recipe I was following didn't make mention of how hot the oil should be or what kind of characteristics it should have so, I was left guessing. 

As instructed, it says to let the pieces cook until they're golden brown! I laid out a paper towel on top of a cutting board and placed the pieces there to cool and "drain" some of the oil. 

I poured out the oil into a pop can and began working on the sauce. It says you'll be making the sauce in the same pot/pan you cooked the chicken in so I ensured I got rid of the oil before it could harden in the pan. 

Pre-mixed

Post-mixed

The sauce for this is super easy and super delicious. I mixed the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger and cornstarch until it was all fully combined. It then instructs you to put this sauce into the pan you were using to cook the chicken in. Before tossing the sauce into the pan, I added some sesame oil and garlic into the pan and cooked it for just less than a minute over medium high. Basically enough so the garlic was fragrant and the oil was slightly heated. I then added the sauce and turned the heat down to a simmer. You are basically just heating the sauce just enough so it thickens ever so slightly. 

While I was doing this, I decided to try out these cauliflower rice packs my mom bought. The plan originally was to make my own cauliflower rice but, my mom saw these packs and wanted to try them out. 

We wanted to make this rice similar to "vegetable fried rice" so I chopped up some veggies I had in the fridge (red pepper, red onion, and some mushrooms) and added an egg. I popped the cauliflower rice into the microwave and put some sesame oil in a saucepan and cracked an egg. I cooked the egg and then added the veggies to the pan. When the "rice" was done, I also added it to the saucepan so everything could cook together. 

Basically the last step was to heat the sauce and add the chicken to it! 

Once the sauce started to bubble slightly and got a little thicker, I added the chicken and gave it a good stir to ensure each piece was coated evenly. I thought about adding the rice straight into the pot with the chicken but I let my dinner guests decide how much chicken vs sauce vs rice. I don't think it would be bad if you did decide to mix it all together, I just, chose not to. 

This recipe tells you to garnish with green onion and sesame seeds. I opted not to use the sesame seeds but it turns out, we actually did have some in the cupboard. Honestly, not adding the seeds did NOT take away from this dish in the slightest. I do enjoy garnishing things with green onion though. This was also perfect because I was able to use up the last of what I had in the fridge. 

Voila! There you have it! As someone who eats a lot of Chinese food and thoroughly enjoys it, this recipe turned out EXCELLENT. This tastes exactly like sesame chicken you'd order from your local spot (okay, maybe not exactly, but pretty darn close!) If you're looking for a cheaper (maybe even healthier) alternative, this is a really, really great sesame chicken recipe. You could also use regular rice or just about anything else as your "side." I feel like this would be really great with noodles too. I'm sure I will be making this again in the future. 

RECIPE: 

This is the recipe I followed. It also includes the nutritional information.

Do you have a "go to" recipe when you're craving Chinese food? When you order it, what do you like to get? Do you prefer sweeter chicken or spicy? I love a good balance of both! I feel like you could easily make this recipe spicy by adding Sriracha! 

xo