Sesame Chicken

I was always a bigger fan of ol' General Tso, but when I came across something vaguely similar that looked well doable here via here, I decided to give it a shot.  I followed the recipe from the first link, with the second's addition of a chopped jalapeno for that extra kick.  To sum up:

Recipe

1+ lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 onions, thinly sliced
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
5 tsp honey
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili paste
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Start with a big bowl; whisk together 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 2 tsp honey.  Add in your chicken, coat in the sauce and marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Next up is your large skillet.  Heat 2 tsp oil and cook your chicken until browned, in two batches if necessary.  Set aside.

Put 2 more tsps oil in the skillet and cook up the onions, ginger, and garlic.  Meanwhile whisk together the broth with the cornstarch, vinegar, chili paste, and remaining soy sauce (2 tbsp) and honey (3 tsp).  When the onions are to your liking, add in this sauce and cook a few minutes until it thickens.  Then stir in the last tsp of the sesame oil. 

Pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with sesame seeds, and serve.  Rice and broccoli optional...

Notes

This one requires a lot of ingredients, lots of chopping, etc., so it's worth making it a group project.  Scaling up did seem to make it more difficult to create that thick sauce, though...  (Maybe doesn't help that I ignored the cornstarch ingredient - do I really have to buy a whole package just to use a few tsps?)  Either way, very tasty!

Don't forget to sprinkle the sesame seed garnish on top!  Even if you do, there's plenty of sesame flavor from the oil, but still...

The worst part of Chinese takeout is clearly the bland steamed broccoli.  I came close to first cooking this dish without greens at all, but luckily Google turned up the perfect compromise: fried broccoli, now in my mind a necessary element to this meal.  Keeping with my spicy tastes, I didn't skimp on the crushed red pepper...