hello! Hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we're diving back into our series dedicated to reproducing foods from Americanized Chinese cuisine with a shot at perhaps one of the most iconic PF Chang's menu items, which is their Sesame Chicken. For those new to the channel, in this series, we have been deconstructing classic dishes from Americanized Chinese cuisine, (including a now long list of dishes from the PF Chang's menu) then seeing what they might look like when reconstructed through the lens of more traditional wok cooking. Sesame Chicken of course is not a foreign concept on this channel, and in fact a few years back we did our best rendition of the Panda Express Honey Sesame Chicken. 

The PF Chang's Sesame Chicken however is in itself somewhat unique in that its signature sesame sauce does NOT use honey, but instead makes use of brown sugar to create its glaze. This in turn gives the dish a lighter and less sugar-forward quality that allows the toasted sesame of our dish to really come alive nicely. For our version today we'll be following fairly close to the PF Chang's version including a potato starch karaage style breading. We will however be making use of some knife technique to slice some long, thin broccoli spears (replicating the size and shape of the Chinese broccoli or "gailan"), allowing us to skip the steam on our veggies, and instead yield a more crisp and crunchy flash fried veggie instead. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS 

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 3 medium chicken thighs

  • 1/2 medium white onion

  • 1 red bell pepper

  • 4 oz broccoli florets

  • 1/3 cup potato starch

  • peanut oil

  • 2/3 cup fryer oil

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 1/2 tsp white pepper

  • 1/3 cup potato starch

INGREDIENTS (glaze)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 1 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 2 tbsp sesame oil

  • 4 tbsp brown sugar

  • 1 tbsp black vinegar

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 1/2 tbsp doubanjiang

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside

  • MINCE the ginger, set aside

  • SLICE the broccoli into spears, set aside

  • LARGE DICE the bell pepper, set aside

  • LARGE DICE the onion, set aside

  • LARGE DICE the chicken, then combine with all marinade ingredients except potato starch and let marinate for 30 minutes

  • DRAIN the liquid marinade, then add the potato starch and mix to combine

  • COMBINE all sauce ingredients and set aside

ON THE STOVE

  • ADD 2/3 cup oil to the wok, heat to 350F, then shallow fry the chicken 12-15 pieces at a time

  • REMOVE the fryer oil, reheat the wok, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the garlic and ginger and bloom for 15 seconds until fragrant

  • ADD the broccoli and bell pepper and saute for 2-3 minutes

  • ADD the onion and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes, then remove

  • ADD the glaze to the wok, reduce heat to medium low, then reduce for 4-5 minutes until a thickened glaze forms

  • REMOVE from heat, then add the veggies and chicken to the wok and toss to combine

 

tagged with sesame chicken, pf changs, p.f. chang’s, chinese food, chinese cooking, pf chang’s recipe, woo can cook