INTRODUCTION

If there are Western bloggers that issued Chinese recipes, it is always all those common dishes in the takeaway menu of the Chinese restaurants in their countries. Among the popular dishes are sweet and sour pork, General Tso chicken, orange chicken, Kung Pao chicken and not forgetting this sesame honey chicken.

Some of the dishes sold in these restaurants are Chinese traditional cuisines modify to suits Western taste buds but most are locally created recipes that is not common in China. These recipes do not fall under traditional Chinese cuisines but they have one thing in common, they are delicious and definitely suit the palates of the Westerners.

For this recipe, there are three major ingredients: sesame, honey and garlic. While sesame may not be a common item in Western cuisines, but honey and garlics are. Personally, I speculated that the dish is well liked in the Western world because it has a friendly taste: honey flavoured, sweet and the chicken is deep fried to crispy. Well, after I tasted my own creations, I am not humble to say that I personally like the taste of this dish and that my girl also prefer this than orange chicken.

The chicken has be garlicky, sweet and dusted with sesame seeds. Since I have never tasted in this region of the world, I have read many recipes, summarized the main ingredients  and come to my own ways of preparation.  For locals, even if you have never tasted this dish before, you should give it a try.. A dish is not famous for no reasons.

“Sesame chicken (also called Chinese sesame seed chicken) is a syncretic dish, commonly found in Chinese restaurants throughout the English-speaking world. The dish involves chicken (usually thigh) pieces that are de-boned, battered, and Chinese deep-fried, then dressed with a translucent, reddish-brown, semi-thick, somewhat sweet sauce made from Asian corn starch, vinegar, wine or sake, chicken broth, and sugar, the last of which is a major contributor to sesame chicken’s relative sweetness. After these preparations, the unfinished dish is topped with small sesame seeds, which may or may not be toasted, hence the name sesame chicken. It is at this point, and never before, that the Chinese sesame seed chicken preparation is complete. It is sometimes, but not always, served with vegetables such as broccoli and Chinese baby corn. Some vegetables are regularly absent from this dish, such as Brussels sprouts and Cabbage.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_chicken)

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 4-6 adult servings

Chicken and marinating

• 500 grams of chicken drumsticks, deboned and cut into 2 cm cubes
• 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of honey (optional but preferred)
• 2 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine or cherry wine

Chicken deep frying

• One egg
• 1/2 cup of rice flour
• 1/2 cup of self raising flour
• 2 dashes of white pepper

Honey Garlic Sauce

• 1/3 cup of honey
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil or sesame oil
• 1/2 cup of plain water
• 2 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Put the chicken cubes and all the marinating ingredients in a bowl, stir until well combined and let it marinate for at least 1 hour.

• After the marinating, put the rice flour, white pepper and self raising flour in a tray, stir until well mixed.  Set aside.

• Crack the egg and lightly beat the egg, coat the chicken cubes with the eggs and transfer the chicken cubes to the tray with flour mixture. Coat adequately and best to let the chicken cubes rest in the tray for 5 minutes before deep frying. This will give a better coating and adequate time for the flour to absorb the moisture.

• Heat up a pot of oil under medium heat. Deep fry the chicken under medium heat until light golden brown. Before dishing up, increase the heat to high and deep fry until golden brown which took about 1-2 minutes. This method of deep frying will ensure your chicken is cooked and force out all the oil trapped inside the chicken. Drain and set aside.

• Mix honey, light soya sauce, corn starch and water in a bowl. Stir until well mixed and ensure that the honey has dissolved. Set aside.

• In a pan, sauté the minced garlic with sesame oil or cooking oil until aromatic. Add the honey starch solution as prepared above. Reduce the heat to medium, continue to stir until the sauce thickens. Once the sauce thickens, off the heat. Add the deep fried chicken cubes followed by toasted sesame seeds. Stir and ensure that the chicken cubes are well coated with honey sauce. Garnish with chopped onions before serving with white rice.

CONCLUSION

This recipe is not a difficult recipe but yields a great taste. As honey can be expensive in Asia, for readers who has access to maltose, you can substitute part of honey with maltose or use 100% maltose. Instead, you can just drizzle the chicken with some honey before serving to give a honey taste. For readers who love one pot dishes, you can deep fry more chicken cubes and keep part of the chicken for other dishes like orange chicken or sweet and sour chicken. If you keep the deep fried chicken (without any sauce) in the fridge, just bake it at 100 degree Celsius before using and it will make your chicken crispy again.

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