There are many reasons I should not be allowed to cook after a few or five beers, and Saturday night’s dinner involved several of them. I tend not to read recipes very well, and then I tend to immediately forget what I just read. Thus, what was meant to be Garlic Chicken didn’t actually have any, um, garlic in it. Yeah, I don’t know how that happened.
It did, however, turn out pretty darned well, and if I hadn’t already told Mr. X I was making Garlic Chicken, I could have gotten away with pretending I had been planning to make Sesame Chicken all along. The chicken was nice and tender and the broccoli wasn’t too mushy, and I amazingly managed to cook the rice perfectly, even though I didn’t pay any attention to how long I was actually cooking it. Maybe drunken cooking isn’t really so terrible, after all.
I wish I could say with any faith that these measurements are accurate, but the several beers convinced me I had no need for measuring cups or any of that nonsense. I was an artiste, dammit!! I found the recipe on about.com. Does anyone know of a different resource for Chinese recipes? I didn’t have a ton of luck finding anything, but this Garlic Chicken recipe looked ok. Of course, I didn’t follow it properly, or I would have actually had Garlic Chicken, but no matter! Here is my bastardized, Sesame Chicken version.
Sesame Chicken and Broccoli
- 1 lb. of boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders, cut into about 1-inch pieces
- 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
- a bit of oil for stir frying
Marinade:
- 1 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. dry sherry
Sauce:
- 1 T. sesame oil
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. dry sherry
- 1/2 tsp. chili paste
Whisk together the soy sauce and sherry for the marinade, and let the chicken marinate for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli florets until they are just tender, for probably about four minutes or so.
Mix together the sauce ingredients with a fork, until it’s all nice and well mixed.
Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat, turn the heat down to medium-high, and add just a little bit of oil. Add the chicken, with the marinade, and stir fry for a few minutes, until the chicken isn’t pink anymore. Add the broccoli and the sauce, and stir fry this all together for another five minutes or so, until the sauce thickens a little bit and has nicely coated everything.
Stir frying is so easy–I feel like there should be more to it than that, but really, that’s all you have to do. I served this with brown rice, and Mr. X thought the nuttiness of the rice was a good combination with the sesame. I don’t usually eat white rice, and hadn’t even considered the fact that brown rice has a totally different flavor, until Mr. X pointed it out. Hm.
So I still have to try my hand at Garlic Chicken. I just have to remember to, you know, add the garlic next time. Sigh.