Recipe in Progress: Sesame Chicken and Carrots

Ok, quick disclaimer: I had written down this recipe but I don't know what happened to it. I'm reconstructing it from the pictures.

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken
1/2 cup soy sauce (I like low sodium)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tsp corn starch
1 tbl toasted sesame seeds
1 cup carrot, julienned

Mix together the honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and corn starch. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and stir fry till almost done. Remove the chicken and saute the garlic till fragrant, about 30-40 seconds. Add the sesame seeds and sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots in and let them simmer till they are just starting to soften. Add the chicken, stir and let cook till done. Top with more sesame seeds if you like, serve over rice.

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Like I said at the top, I don't know what happened to this recipe. I know I wrote it down while I was making it, but it seems to have disappeared. Which is a bummer since this was the closest I've gotten to what I've been going for with this. Like the title says, this is a recipe in progress. I wasn't going to post about it yet, but frankly, I've been wicked busy and I had the pictures. So there you go. Heh. I would love some advice from all you lovely folks though. It's good, but not great. It needs something, but I can't put my finger on what. I think marinating the chicken would help, but part of what I'm going for is a fast meal. As it stands it only takes maybe twenty minutes or so to make, which is perfect for a work night. Next time I think I might just mix together a little soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and just marinate it for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, while I do all the other prep. That should punch it up a bit. I would love to make it spicy, but then my girlfriend probably wouldn't eat it. Anyway, here is what I have so far.

First, the soy sauce. Half a cup of it. Low sodium is the best for this, then you can add more salt if you need it. Now honey. A quarter cup sounds like a lot, I know, but I like my sesame chicken sweet. And it still isn't too too sweet since the soy sauce is so salty, even low sodium. You could always cut it with some chicken broth if you want it less intense. Fortunately I took this picture, so I know exactly how much of each I used. Plus it looks mad cool. Next I added powdered ginger. Fresh would obviously be better, but this was before I did my ginger vodka experiment and all I had was fresh. By the way, I used some of that ginger about a week and a half after putting it in the vodka and it still had plenty of flavor. Next went in some sesame oil. Then I added some cornstarch, but I really don't remember how much. I'm guessing around a teaspoon. Whisked it to combine... or at least tried to. I wound up using a spoon, I couldn't get the whisk to move around enough in my little two cup measure to get it to combine. Then I stir fried up about a pound of chicken that I had cut into chunks. I would post pictures of that, but in all the ones I got the chicken looks wicked sketchy. I blame the terrible lighting in my kitchen. I'm asking for a light box for my birthday this year, I've had enough of this crappy lighting crap. Once the chicken was almost done, I pulled it out of the pan, wiped the leftover oils out of it and tossed in the seeds. You can toast them however you like, I just already had a hot pan so I figured I would just use that. Once they were as toasted as I had patience for I added my garlic. If you have fresh ginger you would want to add it now, instead of into the sauce. Sauteed that for a bit, then poured in said sauce. When I have cornstarch in a sauce like this I like to bring it to a boil to make sure it gets cooked right. That's one of the reasons I add it by itself, the chicken really doesn't need a boiling. Once it comes to a boil (I was stirring constantly the whole time it was coming up, don't need lumpy sauce) I reduced the heat to low and let it simmer for a minute, still stirring. Then I added the carrots. You could add them earlier, but as I'm sure you all know, I'm not a squishy veggie fan. I'm also not a big fan of fancy pants prep work, these are just baby carrots cut into fourths, not real julienne. Hope you aren't too disappointed. Heh. Then I just added the chicken back, tossed it around and let it simmer for a minute to finish cooking. And there it is, sesame chicken and carrots. It would be good with some noodles or over rice. Like I said, it's ok, but it really needs... something. Any suggestions?