before dessert: almost as good as take out... almost :)

we all know the delights of amazing quality take out... and being a new yorker i was always spoiled with an abundance of delicious food at the touch of my fingertips... italian, mexican, thai, japanese, fatty american, and chinese... but now... it's not that simple... and as of right now, the hubs and i are on a hunt looking for our "go-to" take out places... so far we've found a pretty decent pizza place a few blocks away, but it's nothing compared to new york pizza, nothing is... well, at least not in the US... (i admit it, i am a pizza snob)

now, the other day the chinese food mood hit me hard... and unfortunately for me, i haven't found the perfect take out place to fulfill my needs... so... after a little bit of research on the computer and flippin through some of my cookbooks, i finally settled on a recipe... the only thing that i had to change was the spiciness level... i had to think about the kids you know... i can't always be selfish when it comes to feeding the family...

as for the outcome... it was pretty darn tasty... fresh crunchy veggies, a sweet honey sesame sauce coating the lightly breaded chicken, and soft fluffy rice... all in all... a satisfying meal :) and the leftovers were just as tasty the next day!!

honey sesame chicken:

ingredients:
3 pieces chicken breast, cut to bite size pieces
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of cooking wine
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
Salt & pepper to taste

for the sauce:
3 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1- 2 tbsp of honey (depending on how sweet you want)
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
1/4 cup of water
some toasted sesame seed

directions:
1. marinate the chicken with soy sauce, wine, sugar, sesame oil, salt and pepper and set it aside for at least an hour... just before frying mix the flour and cornstarch together in a ziploc bag, drain the chicken from the marinade, toss the chicken into the bag and coat evenly
2. oil a pan, and fry the chicken until golden brown, when cooked, remove the chicken from the pan, and remove all the oil from the pan
3. mix all the sauce ingredients together and pour it back into the hot pan, bring it up to a boil and let the sauce thicken a bit
4. add in the chicken and toss it gently until the chicken are evenly coated with the sauce, sprinkle the sesame seeds to the chicken

i used some fresh veggies like broccoli, mushrooms, peppers and onions, then added a crunchy coleslaw mix of cabbage and carrots (without the mayo if course)... and i used an arborio rice instead of a standard short grain rice... the rice choice made this dish nice and filling...