Exercise Two- Sesame Chicken - Omar Shehadeh

Chicken Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless chicken thigh, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sesame paste
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper  

Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons corn starch + 2 tablespoons water, mixed into a slurry
• 1 scallion sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

Preparation:

• Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.
• Take your boneless chicken thigh and begin to mix it with cornstarch, salt, sesame paste and Shaoxing wine then let it marinate for 20 minutes. 
• Mix sesame seeds, flour, and white pepper in a separate bowl.
• Now mix the chicken breast and marinade until there is no standing liquid.
• Dredge chicken in the dry mixture and proceed to place them onto a sheet pan which is lined with any nonstick material such as nonstick-foil or parchment paper.
• Now Bake at 475 degrees for eight minutes on the top rack. 
• Then flip chicken pieces and broil on low for three minutes or until golden brown.
• Now heat a wok at medium heat and add garlic and oil.
• Stir for only five seconds then immediately add Shaoxing wine.
• Repeat again for another five seconds and immediately add chicken stock, rice wine vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and soy saucs until everything's at a simmer.
• Now gradually add the cornstarch slurry to the sauce while constantly stirring.
• After letting it simmer for twenty seconds, make sure the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
• Finally add the scallions and chicken and toss them in the wok until coated completely with sauce.
• Garnish the meal with toasted sesame seeds, and vwallah , you have sesame chicken.

Sesame chicken is one of my favorite meals. Often times when I am starving and my refrigerator is looking intimidatingly empty, I hop into my car, drive five minutes away to my local Chinese restaurant and pick up a order of seaming hot sesame chicken. It is a perfectly sweet chicken with a little bit of tang to it. Before I began my research on this dish, I knew it was a staple at pretty much any Chinese restaraunt across America. After I began my research this was only confirmed. It seems as though Sesame chicken was a dish prepared very similarly to General Tso's chicken and both of which seemed to emerge from popular culture only twenty or so year's ago as Chinese buffets and restaurants boomed across America. It is believed that this dish was specifically invented in 1970s New York to a family opening a Chinese restaurant looking to expand their menu. Over that time it has not changed very much requiring a delicate recipe and of course sesame seeds to become well, sesame chicken.