Honey Chicken

Honey Chicken - made October 26, 2014 from Heart Mind & Seoul

If you notice it's been awhile since I posted a "real food" recipe, it's because I also haven't cooked real food in awhile. They feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner at work so I haven't had to cook during the week and I usually go out on the weekends. And given the choice, I don't and won't cook. I did finally try it again last weekend and was forcibly reminded why I don't cook. I'm not good at it. I'm not terrible at it (with terrible being I don't give myself food poisoning. Well, except that one time...) but I'm not good at it and I don't really enjoy it.

So it should come as no surprise that I kind of messed up this recipe. Or it's not what I expected. Or both. I cut the chicken too small and the breading got a little whacked so the pieces were small and misshapen. I didn't fry them long enough for the coating to get very brown as they seemed to take a long time to cook and still were pasty white so I took them out when I got tired of frying them. I know, I suck at cooking. The sauce was easy but it didn't have much flavor. I expected it to have more of a honey taste. But it appeared the water really diluted the flavor. Then I tried masking my cooking sins by sprinkling sesame seeds generously over the whole thing. But I don't think that fooled anyone, least of all myself. This dish wasn't horrible. It was edible. Which is kind of the (low) bar I set for myself. Good thing I made this on a Sunday and I could go back to work on Monday and eat someone else's food again. I'll have to go back to not cooking again.

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks)
Oil (for deep frying) – canola or vegetable oil

Batter-
4 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup liquid egg (or 1 egg + 1 egg white)

Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil (or regular vegetable oil)
2 teaspoon ginger (minced)
3 tablespoons garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar (or apple vinegar)
½ cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
Sesame seeds (for garnish)

1. In a plastic ziploc bag, place chicken.
2. Add cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt. Toss them together to coat the chicken evenly with the flour mixture. 
3. Add liquid egg (or 1 egg and 1 egg white) to the chicken. Close the plastic bag and toss them together to coat the chicken evenly with the egg mixture.
4. Heat oil to 375 degrees F. (Using a fryer is helpful. If you don’t own a fryer, heat oil in frying pan. To test if it’s ready to fry the chicken, add a pinch of flour to the oil. If the flour floats immediately making a sizzling sound, it’s ready.) Add the chicken and fry until dark golden brown. 
5. Make the sauce – Heat oil and add ginger and garlic, and stir until garlic turns golden brown. Add salt, honey, rice wine vinegar, and water to the pan, stirring occasionally. Add water and bring it to boiling. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and water together until smooth and add it to the sauce, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens. Reduce heat to simmer and add the fried chicken to the sauce, and stir to coat.
6. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over rice.