Sesame Chicken

If you like asian food, but do not like it spicy, then this is just the recipe for you.  The sauce is sweet and served with toasted sesame seeds.  Simple, yet delicious. 

Ingredients
3 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds, toasted

For the Marinade:
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Sherry Cooking Wine
3 drops Sesame Oil
2 tablespoons Flour
2 tablespoons Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Water
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vegetable Oil

For the Sauce:
1/2 cup Water
1 cup Chicken Broth
1/8 cup White Vinegar
1/4 cup Cornstarch
1 cup Sugar
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 tablespoons Sesame Oil
1 teaspoon Chili Paste
1 Garlic Clove, minced

For the Frying:
Peanut Oil

Directions
Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

Mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously.  If it gets too thick, feel free to thin it down to the desired thickness with some water. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are deep-frying the chicken.

In a medium skillet, heat up about a inch or so of oil to 350 degrees.  Add the marinated chicken pieces a few at a time, and deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and then place chicken in warm oven (130 degrees) while you continue frying. Repeat with the remainder of the chicken. Just before you are finished deep-frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil.

Place the chicken on a platter and pour some of the sauce over it. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice and the remaining sauce.

General Tso Chicken

This is by far my favorite Chinese dish. It is so delicious and so flavorful. It also smells so good! It is a bit spicy, so if you don't like spicy, just cut down some of the Cayenne Pepper. This dish just tastes so good, you will fall in love! This will serve about 6 or so people, so make sure to cut the recipe in half if you are not serving that many people!

Ingredients
2.5 pounds boneless skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into chunks
1 cup Green Onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Oil, for frying

For the Cornstarch Slurry:
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 Egg, beaten
3/4 cup Cornstarch

For the Sauce:
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup Water
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh Garlic, minced
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup White Vinegar
1/4 cup cooking Sherry Wine
14 1/2 ounces Chicken Broth (a can)

Directions
Place sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Mix them together with a wisk.

In a skillet heat up about an inch or so of oil to 350 degrees. Also, turn on the oven to 250 degrees.

Mix cornstarch slurry in a large bowl- the mixture will be strange but trust me it works. It will be very thick almost paste like. Add the chicken pieces in the bowl. Mix everything together to coat well. Using a fork remove one chicken piece at a time and set it in the hot oil. Continue, and work quickly while getting about 10 or so pieces of chicken in the hot oil. You do not want to do too many, because you want all of the pieces to cook evenly. Cook them for a few minutes until they turn golden brown.

Remove the chicken pieces from the oil and place them in a oven safe dish. Place them into the oven to stay warm while you continue cooking more chicken. Replace this until all of the chicken is fried.

In a separate wok or large skillet heat up a small amount of oil. Add green onions and cayenne pepper, and stir fry about 30 seconds. Stir sauce mixture, and then add to pan with onions and cayenne pepper, cook until thick, stirring constantly. If it gets too thick, add a little water. The thickness of the sauce should be similar to what you get when ordering this at a restaurant.

Dump the chicken into the sauce in the wok, and stir until the sauce fully coats the chicken. The quicker this is done the crispier the chicken stays.

Serve over rice.

Mongolian Beef

Whenever I go to PF Changs, this is the dish I always get. It is so delicious. The sauce is so tasty and tastes amazing over some nice white rice.

Ingredients
2 pounds Flank Steak
4 teaspoons Vegetable Oil
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
2 tablespoons Garlic, minced
1 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup Water
1 cup Brown Sugar (packed)
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
Vegetable Oil (for frying)
1/2 cup Cornstarch
3 large Green Onions

Directions
Make the sauce by heating 4 tsp. vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Don’t get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar and tablespoon of cornstarch in the sauce, then raise the heat to medium and boil the sauce until it thickens a little bit. Remove sauce from heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4 inch slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a 45 degree angle to the top of the steak so you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit about 10 min. so the cornstarch sticks. As the beef sits, heat up 1 c. oil in a wok (or skillet). Heat the oil over medium heat until its hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just 2 minutes, or until beef just begins to darken on the edges. Stir the meat around a little bit so that it cooks evenly.

After a few minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour most of the oil out of the skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce, cook for 1 minute while stirring and add green onions. Cook for 1 more minute. Now at this point you can either remove the beef with a slotted spoon or tongs and discard the sauce (this is what P.F. Chang's does) OR thicken the sauce with a cornstarch-water mixture to desired thickness and serve it over rice with the beef.

Teriyaki Chicken

This is by far the best Teriyaki sauce I have ever had. I just love it, and I hope you do to!

Ingredients:
5-6 cloves of Garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon of fresh Grated Ginger or Ginger Powder
2 teaspoons Salt
1 tablespoons Cornstarch, mixed with 2 teaspoons of Water
1 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Vinegar
Chicken Breasts

Directions:
Put all of the ingredients (except for the chicken) in a blender. Blend well.

Put the chicken in a zip lock bag and put just enough of the Teriyaki sauce to cover the chicken breasts. Let the chicken marinate in the sauce in the fridge for a few hours. Keep the remaining chicken for basting and for the next use.

Cook the chicken breasts and keep brushing with more Teriyaki sauce. After the chicken is fully cooked, cut it into strips and serve over rice. Garnish with sesame seeds and more Teriyaki sauce if desired.

ORANGE CHICKEN

I am obsessed with the Orange Chicken from Panda Express. But who needs Panda Express when you can make it from home? Try it out. Tell me what you think. I love it!

Ingredients:
2 Large Chicken Breasts
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
Oil (for frying)
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1/4 cup Flour
1 tablespoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Peppers
1 Green Onion (sliced thin)
1/4 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Orange Juice
5 tablespoons Sugar
5 tablespoons White Vinegar
1 Orange, zest of (OPTIONAL)

Directions:

1. Cut up your chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Put the chicken into a bowl. Stir in the egg, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of oil.

2. In a seperate bowl stir in the flour and the 1/2 cup of cornstarch.

3. Spoon out the chicken from the liquid mixture and put the pieces into your flour mixture. Stir around well until the chicken is fully coated int the flour and cornstarch.

4. Heat up some oil in a large pan on medium heat. Once the oil is really hot, spoon your chicken out of the bowl and set the pieces in the oil in a single layer. Flip each piece over once it is golden brown. When the chicken is cooked and brown, pull it out of the oil and set aside. Dump the oil and clean your pan.

5. In a bowl add the soy sauce, orange juice, sugar, and white vinegar. Stir.

**You need to work QUICK in the following steps and be ready with your ingredients. I burnt my first batch because I wasn't fully prepared...so I had to start over. Get out the remaining ingredients and measuring tools. Have the lids off the spices and have your onion cut so you are ready.

6. Add a tablespoon of oil in your clean pan. Add your ground ginger and minced garlic. Stir-fry until fragrant. (about 10 seconds)

7. Add and stir-fry your crushed red peppers and green onions.

8. Add the sesame oil. Stir for 3 seconds.

9. Add in your mixture that you have in your bowl containing the soy sauce, orange juice, sugar, and vinegar. Bring to a boil.

10. Add your cooked chicken and stir until mixed.

11. Add in the water and the remaining tablespoon of cornstarch. Stir until smooth.

12. Heat until thickened. If you want to add the orange zest you do it at this point. Only add it if you want it to have a lot of orange flavor, as it adds a ton. I would recommend skipping the orange zest if you dont want it REALLY orangy.

13. Serve with rice.

SERVES: 2