sesame-flecked chicken
2 min readThere’s nothing quite like the inviting, nutty aroma and crunch of toasted sesame seeds. In this recipe they co-star with a richly flavoured poached chicken to deliver a quick and satisfy-ing dish. If you find yourself with leftovers, the chicken and sauce is excellent wedged into a crusty baguette with salad leaves.
Serves 4 tbsp vegetable oil 6 slices ginger, cut into fine matchsticks 3 spring onions, white parts only, thinly sliced diagonally 4% tsp salt 1 tbsp light soy sauce 14 tsp dark soy sauce 12 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine 14 tsp ground white pepper 2% tbsp granulated sugar 112 tsp sesame oil 600g skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets 1%2 tbsp sesame seeds 1 Heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over a medium-high heat and fry the ginger and spring onions until the ginger starts to blister. Quickly stir in the salt, pour in 250ml hot water and imme-diately cover with a tight-fitting lid. Let the mixture boil vigorously for 2 minutes to extract flavour from the aromatics.
Add both soy sauces, rice wine, pepper, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and the chicken to the saucepan. Cover, bring to a gentle simmer and poach the chicken for 15 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. With the lid off, bring the liquid in the an to the boil and reduce the volume to half.
3 Meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan over a low heat for 2-5 minutes, or until golden and fragrant, swirling occasionally to prevent burning.
4 To serve, roughly shred the chicken using your hands or two forks and arrange in a shallow dish.
Pour the reduced sauce over the shredded chicken, drizzle over the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, letting some of them float on the moat of sauce around the chicken.
