Sweet & Spicy Chicken

It's here!  The much anticipated recipe for "Sweet & Spicy Chicken".  I posted the above picture the same night that I first made the dish and many of you begged me to post the recipe as soon as I could... so here it is!  I also shared this recipe in  the September 6th edition of The Hinton Voice.

[Every time we go out for take-out, I find myself migrating towards the chicken dishes. Honey garlic chicken, sweet Thai chili, and sesame chicken are all re-occurring favorites.  Other than being delicious, they all have a common theme – crispy breading, and great sauce.   

For this recipe I started with a basic breading, which consists of flour and egg.  While this will get the job done, it can end up tasting pretty bland - even KFC’s chicken has 11 herbs and spices after all.  For this particular dish I chose spices that work well with the accompanying sauce, but feel free to experiment with your favorite combination of spices instead.  As long as you stick with the basic breading concept, you really can’t go wrong.

The same leniency applies to sauces as well. When I first set out to make this dish, I wasn’t sure where I would end up with the sauce… I had visions of honey garlic, sweet Thai chili, sesame, and even ginger sauces all dancing around in my head.  While each of them individually would go really well with this chicken, what ended up on our plates that night was a combination of all of the above.  This sauce has become a fast favorite in our house, creating a perfect marriage of both sweet and spicy.

Whichever spices and sauces you decide to make this recipe with is completely up to you.  All I know is, I may never need to buy take-out chicken again.]

Ingredients

- 2-3 medium chicken breasts

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 tsp ground pepper

- 1 tsp sea salt

- 2 tsp ground ginger

- 2 tsp onion powder

- 2 tsp garlic powder

- 2 eggs

- ¼ cup water

- olive oil (for frying)

- 2 tbsp sesame seeds

- 1 green onion

For sauce

- 2 tsp olive oil

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed (or minced)

- 1 ½ tsp ginger

- ½ tsp red chili pepper flakes

- 1 cup honey

- ¼ cup soya sauce

Directions

Combine flour and spices in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and water.   Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces.  Dip chicken pieces into egg mixture, then into flour.  When all pieces are coated, dip them again into the egg mixture, and then into the flour.  This creates a nice thick crunchy crust on the chicken.

In a medium saucepan, heat approximately ½ inch olive oil over medium heat. Fry chicken in few batches, being careful not to overcrowd the chicken. Cook chicken for 2-3 minutes per side, until crust is nicely browned. 

For sauce

Combine the oils in a saucepan set to medium heat.  Once oil is heated, lightly sauté garlic, ginger and chili pepper flakes.  Add honey and soya sauce and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Cook sauce for additional 5-7 minutes until thickened.  Remove from heat and toss with chicken.  

Top with sesame seeds and thinly sliced green onions.  Great served over a bed of steam fried noodles or rice.

- Nutritional Info (1/4 recipe) -

Calories - 520   Fat - 18    Carbs – 65     Protein - 15   Fibre – 2

Enjoy!