Hi everyone! This is recipe adding to our series on Chinese American food hacks, reproducing the Panda Express Honey Sesame Chicken. In this version, we’re deviating quite a bit from the original Panda Express recipe by removing a number of the more “Americanized” qualities from Panda’s version, and replacing them with elements from more traditional Chinese cuisine.
More specifically, this version experiments with the use of Chinese black bean paste, which is more commonly associated with zha jiang mian. Hope you try it!
serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
1 lb chicken thigh
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup AP flour
1 egg
4 cloves garlic
1 tb ginger (about 1 inch)
12 oz vegetable oil + 4 tb additional oil to cook
2 green onions
Sesame seeds
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
1 tb corn starch
1 cup chicken stock
2 tb rice viengar
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tb oyster sauce
1 tb black bean sauce
2 tb mirin
PREP
CRUSH and mince garlic, finely mince ginger, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, mix to combine, set aside
COMBINE 1/4 cup corn starch and 1/4 AP flour, then add 2 tb of sauce, and mix to combine
WHISK egg, set aside
LARGE DICE chicken thigh, then coat in egg, then breading, set aside
SLICE green onions
ON THE STOVE
ADD 12 oz oil to wok and heat to 350 F, then deep fry chicken in batches for about 1 minute until light brown
REMOVE chicken and let cool for 20 minutes, then fry again until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes
REMOVE fryer oil, heat a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tb vegetable oil to the wok, and coat the wok
BLOOM garlic and ginger in the wok until fragrant, about 30 seconds
ADD garlic and ginger to sauce mixture, and mix until combined
ADD chicken and sauce to the wok, toss until combined, 1-2 minutes
FINISH with green onions and sesame seeds
SERVE over rice