Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sesame Chicken with Lo Mein Noodles


I love Chinese food. It is right up there with Italian, and I could easily eat both every day of the week: one for lunch, one for dinner. As much as I love Chinese food, I've never really learned to cook it myself. I've always gone to a hole in the wall Chinese take-out and gotten my food cravings fulfilled there.

While my sister was here, we decided to make sesame chicken, which is one of my all-time favorite Chinese dishes. I went to my trustworthy Joy of Cooking for this recipe. Their recipe was a bit different then what I'm used to eating at Chinese restaurants, so I changed it bit. Instead of using bone-in chicken breast halves, we used chicken tenders that we diced. They cooked up a lot faster. I also did not serve it with cucumbers- I absolutely hate cucumbers. We served this alongside my sister's recipe for lo mein noodles.

This recipe for sesame chicken was good- a very strong peanut flavor. What I didn't like about it was that the sauce was very thick and filling, and that it didn't call for sesame seeds. I'm still on the look out for the perfect at-home sesame chicken, but I'd make this again.


Ingredients:

16 cups water
3 bone-in chicken breast halves (with skin)

For Sauce:

1/4 cup toasted sesame paste or smooth peanut butter
2 to 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (enough to liquefy the sesame paste or peanut butter)
2 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 to 1 tablespoon hot chili pepper oil, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh garlic
1 scallion, finely chopped

~In a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the chicken and cook til no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a plate and let cool. Thoroughly combine the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl. Remove the bones from the cooled chicken breasts. By hand, tear the chicken meat along the grain to make rough shreds 2 1/2 inches long by1/2 inch thick. Place in a serving bowl. Pour the sesame paste sauce over the chicken shreds and mix thoroughly to coat.

*** As I said, I didn't exactly follow Joy of Cooking's recipe. We bought a package of chicken tenders, cut them in bite-size pieces, and cooked them in some canola oil until no longer pink. We then transferred them to a bowl, covered it to keep the chicken warm, and made the sauce. We then pour the chicken into the sauce and mixed it well. ***

2 comments:

  1. When you come here, we have to make a trip to Penzey's Spices in Oak Park...to get sesame seeds!!! I need to go anyway...

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  2. That looks really really good and not even hard! Which surprises me! I would eat cucumbers...I actually am pickling some this morning but maybe I shouldnt mention that! LOL

    Tracy

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