Happy Life, Happy Wife

My ordering never goes much beyond beef with broccoli, and when it does it’s only switching to chicken with broccoli.  So I’d never had sesame chicken before…

… but this gave me a great excuse to use my WOK!!!

I learned some new things while making this one, the first of which was how to toast sesame seeds.  Never used ‘em before, so I wasn’t even sure where they were in the grocery store!  Turns out they’re with all the spices, go figure.

And it’s very easy to toast them…  Just put them straight in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and every few moments shake the pan (gently side to side, don’t literally shake it or they’ll go flying everywhere.  Speaking from experience.  Hmm.)  After a few minutes they’ll turn a pretty golden brown and will have more of a nutty aroma.

So that’s the first thing you want to do with this recipe because you want the seeds to have enough time to cool.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup AP flour


• 1 container sesame seeds, toasted and divided (a little less than 1/2 cup)


• 1 tsp black pepper


• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder


• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes


• 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks


• 5 Tbsp vegetable oil


• 1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges


• 2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce


• 2 Tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Combine flour, 1/2 of the sesame seeds, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes.  Mix well.


2. Put chicken in the flour mixture and gently mix to coat.  Shake off any excess flour and remove chicken to a plate.


3. Heat vegetable oil in wok over medium-high heat.  Once it’s hot, put chicken in and brown on both sides (about 5 minutes or until cooked).  Remove chicken and set aside.


4. Add the onion wedges into the same pan and cook for about 2 minutes.  Remove and set aside.


5. Reduce heat to low and return chicken back to the pan.  Mix in teriyaki sauce, honey, and the rest of the sesame seeds.  Stir until sauce thickens.


6. Return onion to the skillet, warm through, and serve.

Notes:

• It’s excellent served over rice.  Plan your timing right so they’ll be done at the same time.


• You can use a skillet if you don’t have a wok, just make sure it is big enough.


• I cooked the onion to get some of the flavor in the juices, but I never returned it to the pan because we don’t like them.  Still tasted good though!