Sesame Chicken

It's becoming painfully clear to me that I have a pretty boring life when L's not here. ;) Well, I should take that back. My mama was here this past weekend from Friday to Tuesday, so that was pretty friggin' spectacular! We had a really great time, and that was her first time visiting since I moved here, so it was long overdue! Sadly, I didn't take many pictures since we kept the weekend very lowkey. Perhaps I need to work on doing some more exciting things, possibly make some new envelopes, go to a new store, anything, so I have something besides food to share with you. Otherwise, the next time you see me, I'm gonna be 300 pounds, ha! That being said, this recipe is worth sharing. Mama was surfing Pinterest over the weekend and found a super simple recipe for sesame chicken (original here), so we gave it a whirl. It hardly took any work at all, and it was pretty yummy! Not to mention, eating it the next day was just as delightful! Next time I'll probably make a bigger batch just because it didn't last that long, but either way, I will definitely put it in the rotation since my pantry contains many of these ingredients due to dating L. It's amazing how much my palette has grown since knowing him. :) Anyway, here goes another recipe, and I promise to switch it up soon and share something fun with you soon!

 The ingredients!

 Dice up your chicken!

 Mix the salt, pepper, and flour.

 Toss your chicken with the flour mixture.

 Mince (or grate) your garlic. Yes, I'm obsessed with this adorable grater!

 Put a little oil in the pan and throw in your chicken to brown it.

 Whisk the chicken stock, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, and white vinegar together.

 If you're awesome like me, then you also have a tiny whisk in addition to your tiny grater to use!:)

Cook the chicken. See it getting that nice color? Yum!

 Pour chicken stock mixture into the pan.

 Then toss the whole pan into your pre-heated oven. (Be sure it's an oven-safe pan!!)

 Bring it out of the oven and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Looks amazing!

 Serve it with some rice and you've got yourself a meal!

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 Tbsp. flour (The recipe calls for whole wheat, but I used regular.)
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil (The recipe calls for toasted, but I just had regular.)
• 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. low-sodium (or regular) soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1/2 cup low-sodium (or regular) chicken stock (I used broth.)
• 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp. black sesame seeds (I don't even know what these are, so they were skipped!)

As you could maybe guess, this is intended to be a healthier version based on the original recipe. Feel free to do do it either way, but I thought it was excellent the way we made it!

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• In a small bowl, whisk the chicken stock, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, and white vinegar together. Set aside.
• In another bowl, mix the salt, pepper, and flour. Toss the chicken with it.
• In a large pan (make sure it’s oven safe), 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.
• Turn off the heat and pour the chicken stock mixture over the chicken, stirring to combine.
• Place the entire pan in the oven and cook for 20 minutes. 
• Remove the chicken from the oven and toss it with sesame seeds. Serve.