Recipe Review - Sesame Chicken

I love me some Chinese food!  I make my mom's recipe for Chinese Pepper Steak quite often, but that's the only Chinese recipe in my repertoire.  I was excited to try this Sesame Chicken recipe out since it got such rave reviews on Pinterest.  I had to make some adjustments because our local Wal-Mart did not have all the necessary ingredients.  

Photo courtesy of Slender Kitchen.

Sesame Chicken

Ingredients

1 lb chicken tenderloins, cut into bite size pieces

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil (I couldn't find this...so I just used olive oil)

1/2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water**

2 tbsp sesame seeds (I toasted mine)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  In a small bowl, whisk the chicken stock, brown sugar, sesame oil (or olive oil), garlic, soy sauce, and white vinegar together.  Set aside.

3.  In another bowl, toss the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and flour.

4.  In a large oven safe pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Once hot, add the chicken in one layer.  Cook for three minutes on one side until seared and then flip and cook for another three minutes on the other side.

5.  Turn off the heat and pour the sauce mixture over the chicken, stirring to combine.

6.  Place entire pan in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. **   Toss the chicken with sesame seeds and serve.

**My sauce did not thicken like I wanted it to...so I put the pan back on the stove top.  I added the cornstarch mixture and allowed the sauce to thicken and caramelize.    While it was reducing, I toasted my sesame seeds in a little olive oil.  Next time, I will probably try cooking this entirely on the stove top (or electric skillet).  I think it will work better for me...

I served this over white rice.  It was pretty good!  I will definitely try it again with some more tweaks!