I called this sweet and sour chicken.  My husband called it sesame chicken.  So there you go.  The chicken is coated in corn starch, dipped in egg and quick fried.  By quick fried I mean crisped up but not cooked through.  Top the chicken with the sauce and finish the dish in the oven.  Very simple.  I usually like stir fries and typically I make them without meat.  But this is my attempt to replicate a dish my husband frequently chooses when we go out for Chinese.  Which is not very often.  Largely because where we live we cannot readily access any ethnic restaurants.  Actually we cannot readily access ANY restaurants.  And also because when I make it at home I know that we are getting healthy, quality ingredients.  I’m not sure what this would be called on the Chinese restaurant menu.  But on our menu it is now sweet and sour sesame chicken.  When I make this next I will double the sauce recipe.  I would put half on the chicken and reduce the second half and serve it on the side.

Ingredients:

Boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed

(I used approximately 1 1/2#s)

1/2 cup corn starch

2 eggs whisked

1 cup peanut or canola oil

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup pineapple juice

4 T ketchup (I use only Brooks Tangy)

2 T soy sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cloves garlic grated

1 inch fresh ginger grated

sesame seeds, green onions, and toasted sesame oil for garnish

Combine the vinegar, ketchup, juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger and whisk together.

Set the sauce aside while you prepare your chicken.  Preheat the oven to 325.  Heat the oil in a heavy fry pan or Dutch oven.

Cube the chicken.  Put the cornstarch into a zip lock bag, add the chicken and toss to coat.

Whisk the eggs and dip the cornstarch coated chicken into the egg and then drop in the oil for quick fry.

Turn the chicken pieces once and then remove to a platter covered with paper towel to absorb any oil.  Transfer the chicken to an oven safe casserole dish and pour the sauce over the chicken.

Bake for one hour turning the chicken pieces after 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and garnish with sesame seeds, sesame oil and green onions.

Serve over rice with broccoli or vegetable of your choice.

NOTE:  The chicken was tender and tasty but, as I noted above, it needed more sauce.  A reduction served on the side would have been a good addition.  We also had soy sauce at the table.  I think the sauce recipe would also work well for a stir fry with or without meat.