Lemon Chicken

Lemons are pretty versatile. Despite the fact that they are tart they go really well in sweet dishes. Lemons can also be used in savoury dishes though I have not had all that many. When I came across the concept of an Asian style lemon chicken dish I had to try it. Most of the recipes that I found for lemon chicken called for coating the chicken in corn starch or flour and frying it in oil. Since the chicken would then be placed in a lemon sauce and become soggy I was not too sure why it was deep fried in the first place. I decided to come up with a way of making lemon chicken without frying the chicken. In the end I decided to marinate the chicken in a lemon marinade and then saute the chicken and reduce the the marinade into a sauce. Although the dish did not turn out to be too photogenic the lemon chicken was really tasty. It had a really nice lemon flavour and it was tart but not too tart. The cilantro and green onion along with the lemon flavour made the dish taste really fresh. I think that the next time I make this I will add more chili heat to it. I will also have to try making the version with the breaded and fried chicken to compare.

Ingredients:
1 lemon (zest and juice)
2 tablespoons chicken stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 small chili (chopped, or 1 teaspoon chili sauce)
1 pound chicken (cut into bite sized pieces)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons ginger (minced)
1 clove garlic (minced)
3 green onions (chopped)
1 handful cilantro (chopped)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted)

Directions:
1. Mix the lemon zest, juice, chicken stock, soy sauce, sugar, honey, and chili in a bowl. Do a taste test here to balance out the tartness, saltiness, sweetness and heat.
2. Place the chicken into mixture and marinate for 10-20 minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a pan.
4. Add the ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
5. Add the chicken reserving the marinade.
6. Saute the chicken until cooked, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the reserved marinade and simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened, about 7-10 minutes.
8. Add the green onion, cilantro and sesame seeds and remove from the heat.
9. Serve on rice or noodles.

Similar Recipes:
Cashew Butter Chicken
Sesame Chicken
Ginger Pork

Take a look at the Weekend Herb Blogging roundup at Anna's Cool Finds.