(my camera just doesn’t do food justice, but I tried!)

“Sticky chicken” is what we call this recipe.  It may look a little complicated with all the ingredients, but it’s not, and the end results are worth it.  If the process of making the breading and the sauce seem a little daunting to you, you can mix up the breading well in advance so all you have to do is coat and bake or pan fry your chicken then make the sauce.  This is a sweet chicken without any sugar, which makes me very happy.  The inspiration for this recipe came from something I saw on pinterest, but I changed the method and ingredients and no longer resembles that recipe enough to post it (actually it looks like there are a lot of recipe similar to this).

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken breasts, pounded thin and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 egg
• 1 tb water
• 1/2 ts olive oil

Chicken Breading

• 1 c flour
• 2 tb cornstarch
• 1 tb ground ginger
• 1 ts onion powder
• 1 ts garlic powder
• 1 ts paprika
• 1/2 ts pepper
• 1/2 ts salt
• A few tablespoons of cooking oil – olive, coconut, vegetable – I used peanut oil

“Sticky Sauce”

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tb olive oil
• 1-2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 c honey
• 3 tb lemon juice
• 1 ts. lemon pepper seasoning (equal parts kosher salt, pepper, and dehydrated, powdered lemon slices OR lemon zest)
• 1 tb white vinegar
• 2 ts. cornstarch

Method:

1. Prepare the egg, water, oil and cornstarch in one container.  Prepare the breading in a separate bowl.  Begin heating a skillet over medium high heat with enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet.
2. Drop your chicken into the egg, then squeeze off the excess before coating in the breading.  Press and toss your chicken to coat all sides well.  Then shake off any excess (I cup my hands around the chicken with my fingers slightly open and shake the chicken bits so excess flour falls through my fingers).
3. Place the chicken in the skillet.  Work in batches so you don’t overload the skillet.  Cook until all sides are crispy and the meat is cooked through.  Remove from the skillet and put the next batch in.
4. As the chicken cooks, prepare your sauce.  Add the tablespoon of olive oil to a small pan and heat it over medium high heat.  Add your minced garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant and soft.  Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce and cook until it boils, then reduce heat and simmer a few minutes until the sauce thickens.
5. Once all of your chicken has been cooked, dump it all into a large mixing bowl.  Add the sauce, and mix it around to coat the chicken.  It may seem like there isn’t enough sauce to coat the chicken, but it will coat the chicken if you stir it long enough.  If you’re the type who likes a lot of sauce in what you eat, just double the recipe.  Serve this over hot, cooked rice.