Dinner #3; Chicken and Broccoli over Rice

I love Chinese food. However, we all know that you can only indulge every once in awhile. Therefore, I made up my own beef and broccoli recipe some time ago and decided to do Chicken version tonight.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast
1 head of broccoli

1 cup baby carrots, quartered lengthwise
1 small onion diced
2 cups + 2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon sugar (or sweetener of choice)
1 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Rice of choice
1 tablespoon oil of choice

At least 30 minutes ahead of time, cut chicken breast into strips. I used pre-cut tenders because they were on sale :). Pound them out so they are about 1/4 inch thick. Place chicken in a big ziplock or bowl with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes or until ready to cook.

About 30 minutes before you want to eat.....

As usual, I cooked my rice in a rice cooker using about 2 cups chicken broth for my liquid. Cook rice as you do, but use the chicken broth....it makes a difference.

In a large skillet, heat oil. Saute marinated chicken until cooked through. Make a well in the middle of the pan and put onions in. Cook until translucent using the juice from the chicken. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine corn starch, soy sauce, and about 1/2 cup of chicken broth using a whisk. Once mixed, add remaining 1 1/2 cups of broth, salt, sugar and pepper. Pour over chicken and continuously stir so that the corn starch does not clump. Your sauce will thicken very quickly. As soon as it is to your desired consistency, put broccoli and carrots in pan. Stir to coat veggies, cover, and simmer on lowest heat until broccoli is cooked to your liking. Right before serving, add toasted sesame seeds to pan. Serve over rice.

Ingredients

Thickened sauce

Plated dish in bad lighting!

Notes on the dish:

In the ingredients, you may have noticed that I split measurements into two for example the soy sauce is 2 T + 2 T. The reason for this is that you need it at two different points, first to marinate and then for the sauce.
The beef variation is prepared the same way, but using beef (I get the think sliced sandwich steaks and slice into strips) and beef broth. I really suggest you invest in the rice cooker. It just makes life so much easier. I tend to use low-sodium soy sauce. If you don't, then I suggest omitting the salt from the recipe. If you would rather not use regular sugar, you can substitute your sweetener of choice (splenda (yuck), agave syrup, etc). The reason I add the sweet is to make it taste less like a plain stir fry and more like a chicken broccoli dish from House of Chao in New Haven or other traditional chinese restaurant. Tip: when toasting your sesame seeds, they will go from not toasted to toasted too much VERY quickly, as will most seeds or nuts when dry toasting in a pan. Don't take your eyes off of them or you will waste a few batches (take it from experience!). Enjoy!