SESAME CHICKEN

Ingredients

Chicken: The best cut of chicken to use is dark, tender chicken thighs. They remain juicy, and there’s minimal risk of them drying out due to their high fat content. You could also use chicken breast if you prefer.

Cornstarch, Flour: In almost all of my fried chicken recipes, a combination of both cornstarch and flour are my secret to a crispy fried batter. Cornstarch is commonly used in Asian fried dishes, as to give the foods a lighter coating. I like to add just a bit of flour to give the coating a bit of thickness to stand up to the stir frying we’ll be doing as a final step.

Egg white, water: These two will transform the dry coating into a wet, paint-like batter that will crisp up perfectly in the oil.

Soy sauce: As a base in many Asian recipes, soy sauce provides the much-needed savoriness and umami flavor to our Sesame Chicken.

Honey, brown sugar: A mix of both honey and brown sugar creates a more complex sweetness to the sauce as opposed to if you were just to use standard white sugar. The sweetness here is essential in balancing out all those savory and tangy notes from the other ingredients.

Ketchup, rice vinegar: Ketchup and rice vinegar gives our sauce an acidic brightness that keeps things from being flat.

White pepper, garlic: While in small quantities, these ingredients give our sauce depth. The white pepper provides a delicate, earthy taste; while the fresh garlic is sharp and pungent.

Shaoxing wine: Also known as Chinese cooking wine, this is made by fermenting glutinous rice, water, and wheat-based yeast. It adds depth to almost all Chinese and Taiwanese dishes through its signature savoriness and mild saltiness.

*If you’re worried about alcohol content, don’t worry, since we use it minimally in this recipe. The alcohol also tends to cook off right away as we’re stir-frying the dish anyways. Otherwise, feel free to omit this ingredient altogether.

Sesame oil, sesame seeds: Sesame chicken isn’t sesame chicken without the sesame! The oil gives the sauce a delicious, nutty, aroma; while the seeds provide its signature toasty flavors.