Sweet Sesame Chicken

I am always in search of good Japanese recipes! I've been trying to find a great sesame chicken recipe as it is one of my favorite things to get whenever we go out to eat at a Japanese restaurant. Although the sauce was a little sweeter than I expected, this recipe was pretty good. When I was down at an oriental market a few weeks ago, I managed to buy a $11 Korean sesame oil (one of the best!!) so I used it for this recipe. Seriously, guys, you might think all sesame seed oil taste the same, but no, you must try sesame seed oil from Korea or Japan. They're seriously so good! If you're a big fan of sesame chicken, try this recipe.

Ingredients:

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half or in cubes
2 tablespoons raw or toasted sesame seeds (I used toasted sesame seeds)
2 green onions (sliced)

Marinade-
1 teaspoon chicken base or water
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sesame oil
ground white pepper (to taste)
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon red wine or mirin (I used both - 1/2 tablespoon red wine + 1/2 tablespoon mirin)

Batter-
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg (beaten)
½ cup water (or as much as needed to make batter smooth)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Sauce-
2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt (to taste)
1 1/2-2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
a sprinkle of ground black pepper

Direction

In large bowl, combine all of the marinade ingredients and mix well. Add the chicken and coat evenly. Cover and marinade for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in separate bowl, combine all of the batter ingredients and mix thoroughly. The batter should be thick enough to coat the chicken but thin enough to flow around the pieces. Set aside.

Using a fork or tongs remove the pieces of chicken from the marinade and dip them into the batter to coat evenly (one by one). Deep fry the chicken in batches in your deep fryer (or in deep frying pan in about 3 tablespoons oil, over high heat, about 3-4 minutes each side) for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

In sauce pan, add the sauce ingredients and warm over medium heat. Bring to a boil while stirring and simmer until sauce slightly thickens.

Pour the sauce over the chicken, and garnish the plate with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.

Slightly adapted from Blogchef