Spicy Sesame and Honey Chicken

This perfect combination of spicy, sweet, sour and crunchyness of lightly floured strips of chicken dish was our dinner the other week. I wanted to put it up on this Blog on the same day, but haven’t had my act together until today. But as it is one of my favourite recipes, I thought it is not too late to put it up now. This is nothing at all compared to the one you find in the Chinese Restaurant where often you will find honey sesame chicken with thick batter, which is way to sweet for my liking. Here I find the combination in the sauce is just fine, the chicken is tender with nice crunchy coating. I served it with jasmine rice and extra freshly cut red chillies to add more heat.

Ingredients

2 – 3 chicken fillet

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 tablespoons potato starch or cornstarch

¼ teaspoon baking power

Oil for prying

Paste

2 cloves garlic

2 red chillies

1 lemongrass (white part)

1 small piece of ginger (or a couple of slices or about the same size as one clove of garlic)

Rind from one lime

Marinade

Half of the paste

Juice of one lime

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt

pepper

Sauce

1 1/2 cups of chicken stock

Half of the paste

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 tablespoons honey (or more depending on taste)

2 tablespoons soy sauce (light)

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons chilli paste (or more depending on taste)

1-2 tablespoon cornstarch (or more depending on thickness desired)

1 teaspoon of oil

salt

pepper

spring onions for serving

2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds

Steps:

1. Cut chicken fillet into equal strips  (~1-1/2 cm wide).
2. Mix together the plain flour, cornstarch and baking power.
3. Marinade the chicken strips with half the paste and the other marinade ingredients thoroughly. Then add the mixed flour to coat the chicken strips. Leave the marinaded chicken in the fridge for at least 30minutes.
4. Make the sauce. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the paste until fragrance and then add the chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients except for the cornstarch. Seasons with salt and pepper and adjust sweetness as desired. Put on low heat while you prepare the other parts.
5. Roast sesame seeds and set aside.
6. Heat a generous amount of oil in a fry pan or deep fry pan. Fry chicken strips until golden brown and keep warm. You should do this in batches until all chicken strips are done.
7. Dissolve the cornstarch with some cold water. Add the cornstarch mixture into the sauce little by little and mix well (as you add the cornstarch, observe the thickness of the sauce, add more cornstarch if the sauce is too thin or add a bit of water if it becomes too thick).
8. Pour sauce into chicken strips and mix well. Add roasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced spring onions.
9. Note: the lime juice and lime rind can be replaced with lemon orange, choose what is easily available or is handy.

Kartoffelpuffer: German Potato Pancakes

Germans do love their potatoes. Potatoes are served with many dishes, whether it is the simple salt potatoes, bratkartoffel, pommes fries, potato salad or soup and around here knödel or klöße, it is the staple of German dishes. Although I have grown up eating rice at least twice a day, I have also learnt to love potatoes – hmm a bowl of hot crispy potato chips can never go wrong (other than to your waistline).  Carb, fat and salt: a perfect combination for comfort food! We all have craving for those food we grew up with, and when that craving comes we would go to great length to enjoy it again. Now I have found the comfort food of my husband. It is something his mum used to make and is eaten with a bowl of hearty bean soup, but this potato pancake is more commonly eaten with apple muss. In the local dialect here, it is called “Krumben Pfannekuchen” or in high German "Kartoffelpuffer". How happy and surprised he was when he found out that I too could make this local dish. It is really easy.

You might be wondering that it is eaten with apple muss but it is traditionally so, but if you prefer leave the apple muss and simply munch on the pancake or serve as side dish. So however you would like to eat it, it is simply yummy!

Ingredients:
Source: I learnt this recipe from my aunt

800 gr potatoes

2 medium onions 

2 eggs

A handful of flat leaves parsley

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons potato flour

1-tablespoon plain flour

Salt (~1 teaspoon)

Pepper

Oil for frying

Steps:

1. Wash and peel the potatoes and then grate it finely. The potatoes might turn brown; you can add a couple drops of vinegar to stop the browning process.  Drain and press as much of the liquid out as possible. Use a tea towel to make it easier, twist and squish until the grated potatoes are pretty dry.
2. Chop onions and parsley finely. I used a small food processor to do this (to prevent me crying from the onion juice).
3. Mix the grated potatoes, chopped onions, parsley and eggs together in a bowl.  Add flour and mix thoroughly. The flour provides consistency but you don’t want to use a lot of it otherwise it becomes clumpy, so add a little at a time.
4. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. Heat oil in the pan, use enough oil to allow the batter to slightly swim in the oil. It should be hot, but not smoking hot. Put one tablespoon of the potato batter into the hot oil and flatten it a little (half cm thick) and fry for around 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Fry the batter in batches (don’t crowed the pan with too many, otherwise it won’t fry very well). I normally do a trial to test for taste and consistency. It should have a crunchy outer and soft inside. You can add a little bit more potato or plain flour if the batter gets too watery.
6. Once ready take it out and drain on kitchen towel. Serve hot with apple muss. A trick to keep it warm whilst you are finishing with frying is to keep the already cooked pancakes in a preheated oven at 80^o C.

Note: This recipe is enough for 4 persons and it also tastes good eaten cold