Panda Express Sesame Chicken and Tofu (Halal)
Super delicious, saucy, and tender Panda Express Dupe that was mainly created to make it fully halal for me and my family to eat. Now here I am sharing my exact recipe with all of you to enjoy!
I've made this recipe at least three times already and I love it every single time. I may or may not have been eating it for a week straight every time I cook up this dish. It's just that good! This recipe is so versatile and can be served with practically anything using any type of rice, you're favourite vegetables, or even noodles. It's sweet, tangy, it's savoury - it is everything you want it to be!
It's a quick and easy recipe that tastes way better than takeout in my opinion. It's a great dish to use up anything leftover in the pantry considering how versatile this recipe is as you can add and eat it with mostly anything.
Panda Express Sesame Chicken & Tofu
Yields: 6-8 servings Prep: 15-20mins Cook time: 1hr -1hr 30mins
INGREDIENTS:
1- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast
1 pack of tofu (firm)
2-3 thinly sliced bell peppers OR 1/2-1 pound of any vegetables you like (ex. hard/ crunchy like veggies: mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, NO tomatoes or eggplant because it can get really soft and ruin the texture of the recipe.) OPTIONAL
Sauce:
1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp sriracha hot sauce (add more according to your taste)
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tbsp oil (sesame oil/ vegetable oil/ olive oil)
Batter for chicken:
2 eggs
1 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup flour
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper (add more according to your taste)
Garnishes (OPTIONAL):
Roasted sesame seeds
Parsley
Sliced green onion
Roasted peanuts
Slice of lemon
Slices of cucumber
DIRECTIONS:
Mix everything for the sauce (sweet chilli sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, water, sriracha hot sauce, cornstarch, and your choice of oil) in a bowl and stir well so that all the flavours combine and marinate well with each other and set aside for later.
Crack two eggs in a bowl, whisk, and set aside.
Put all the dry ingredients from the batter (cornstarch, flour, salt, black pepper) in a bowl as set aside.
OPTIONAL: You can mix all the ingredients of the batter together (eggs, cornstarch, flour, salt, black pepper) if you like it that way OR keep it separate so you can dip the chicken into the eggs and into the dry batter before you cook it.
Cut the vegetables to the preferred sizes that you'd like and make sure to cook your vegetables beforehand depending on what you use ex. potatoes, corn, cauliflower, etc. needs to be cooked before hand. (I usually use thinly sliced bell peppers in this recipe because you can usually eat it raw) and set it aside till the end.
Cut the chicken and tofu into small pieces.
In a small pot, put your sauce in and stir occasionally in low heat until it simmers and reaches a thicker consistency.
Warm your deep fryer/pan/anything with a lot of oil that can submerge a batch of chicken and turn it on low to medium heat.
OPTIONAL: You can put 2-4 tbsp of oil into a large pan instead of deep frying the chicken in a lot of oil.
Coat your chicken pieces with the eggs first and after the dry batter. Put it into the deep fryer/pan and cook evenly throughout until the chicken is crispy, cooked, and/ or is golden brown.
Take the chicken out once its done and set it aside on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil.
Put 2-3 tbsp of oil into a pan and cook it at low to medium heat until you get a crispy sturdy looking tofu that looks brown around the edges.
After the tofu, chicken, and sauce is done, mix everything together for 2-3mins into the same pan and don't forget to include your vegetables into the mix.
Once everything is cooked and coated with sauce, serve with some white rice and ENJOY!
Make sure to TAG ME @sarmin.begum on Instagram and TikTok if you decide to re-create my recipes. I'd love to see how this recipe turn out for you guys! And let me know what other content you'd like me to post on here. xo
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