Sesame chicken

For our wedding, my friends from my undergraduate university carried on a small tradition we have started when one of us gets married- they made us a wedding quilt. It's an old American tradition that women would get together and attend quilting bees to work on a quilt together and I feel that the quilt they made for us brings us all a little bit closer, even though we are apart physically.

Each person made a quilt square from fabric in our wedding colors, many of which also included themes or symbols from our undergraduate college. My friend who presented it to me also gave me a book of recipes that each person sent in with the quilt square and I am so excited to try all of them! I will certainly try to make all the recipes and report here about them. The recipe below is for sesame chicken and it is from my former dance teacher.

After browning chunks of chicken before in a pan, combine 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 scant cup sugar, 1 Tbsp sesame seeds, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp garlic powder and heat until mixed.

Then add 1 Tbsp cornstarch and 1 cup cold water together and dissolve into the pan. Stir this all together until the sauce thickens and then add the chicken back in.

I thought that the dish needed some vegetables and colour, so I added spring onions and broccoli while the sauce was thickening.

When the sauce reaches a thick enough consistency and the vegetables are done, serve over rice.

This was quite a pretty and tasty dish, if a bit salty for my usual taste buds so I will probably cut down on the soy sauce next time. However, I have always wanted to make sesame chicken and I can see this becoming a regular menu item here.

Thank you again to all my wonderful friends for the beautiful quilt. It astounds me every time I look at it how much love went into it and how grateful I am to all of you for the beautiful wedding present.