Oriental Apricot Chicken

Yummm. I love love love this recipe. It's one of Garrick's and my standby recipes. It's really easy to make and tastes so good. All you need to go with it is a bit of rice (we like Botan brand). I guess if you really want a vegetable you could cook up some bok choy with some soy sauce and rice vinegar. But I just stick with rice.

Since we didn't have our usual Thursday night dinner with Megan and Caleb last Thursday, Garrick and I made this recipe. And then right as we were about to plate up, my parents called and asked if we wanted to join them at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Hmmm, homemade Chinese food or authentic Chinese food? What a dilemma. We went for authentic, and packed up our original dinner when we got home. Garrick got stir-fry noodles, and I got lemon chicken, which is weird because I almost always get Sha Cha Chicken. It's sooo good. I've never seen it anywhere else. It's pieces of chicken with carrots, celery, and green peppers (I get it without the peppers) with a spicy, flavorful, kind of garlicy sauce. It's amazing.

Anyway, back to the recipe. The pictures don't make it look that appetizing, but we were in a hurry to get to our dinner, so we didn't do any "staging."

Oriental Apricot Chicken
 • 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 lb. canned apricot halves in syrup, drained, halved, liquid reserved
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/8 tsp Oriental sesame oil
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 6 scallions, including some green, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)
• 3 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)


Place chicken between two sheets of wax paper and pound lightly with a mallet or other heavy flat object to flatten to 1/2 inch thickness. Combine reserved apricot liquid with soy sauce, 1/8 tsp. oil and sherry in a bowl. Set aside. Combine flour with paprika, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour mixture to coat, shaking off excess. Heat 2 Tbs. oil (peanut or vegetable) in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sauté scallions 2-3 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add chicken and cook 3 minutes, until browned. Turn chicken, reduce heat to medium low, and add cooked scallions and apricots. Drizzle with sherry mixture. Cover skillet and simmer 5 minutes, turning chicken once. Serve with sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and cilantro.

It's such a simple recipe but it's so tasty. 

Seriously, the next time you don't know what to make but you want something quick, you really should give this a try.