This is a savory, saucy dish that is popular in Korean bars as anju, and is a healthier take on takeout Chinese sesame chicken. For a healthier, at-home preparation, this recipe stir-fries instead of deep-frying the chicken pieces, and the end result is amazing.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 pound boneless and skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes

• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4

Preparation

1. In a bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, rice vinegar, ginger, and garlic to make the sauce. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine egg with cornstarch and a generous dash each of sea salt and pepper. 
3. Add chicken to bowl and toss to coat. After coating, let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Heat a wok or heavy-bottomed pan up on high heat.
5. Add oil and coat pan.
6. Add the chicken and stir-fry until it is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

1. Once chicken is cooked, pour reserved sauce into wok.
2. Toss to combine chicken with sauce and stir-fry for a couple minutes more.
3. As soon as sauce thickens, turn off heat.
4. Garnish with sesame seeds.
5. Serve with rice.

Some Interesting Info About the History of Chinese Food in Korea:

"In old Korea some people ate Chinese dishes. Korean envoys who were dispatched to China sometimes acquired a taste for Chinese food and kept eating it at home. Professional interpreters, a semi-hereditary profession in those days, also admired all things Chinese, including the food. But these were exceptions.

The first Chinese eateries appeared in Korea only in the 1880s, when Chinese troops were stationed in and around Seoul. The army was followed by a number of small merchants, including cooks and food stall operators. They sold simple dishes suitable for the soldiers’ stomachs and pockets, but some of these cooks established independent eateries in Seoul and Incheon, then the major base of the Chinese community.

From the 1890s an increasing number of Chinese crossed the Yellow Sea and settled in Korea as workers, merchants, and handicraftsmen. Usually these people came without families, and the food stands were welcome by single hard-working males. It is known that in 1895, in the Chongno and Namdaemun areas, there were 45 Chinese shops of all kinds, including four eateries.

But these low-budget eateries catered exclusively to a Chinese clientele. Only around the 1920s did Koreans begin to drop in at such simple eateries, too. Most of the Chinese operators and patrons came from Shandong and Liaodong Provinces, which lay across the Yellow Sea, and thus the Korean-Chinese cuisine largely reflected the culinary art of those areas (actually, different parts of China have cuisines as diverse as those of different European countries).

Apart from these simple establishments, there were sophisticated places as well. These also catered to Chinese patrons, but of a completely different kind: managers of large trading companies, rich merchants, and other people of affluence. Of course, such restaurants served sophisticated dishes, rather than simple fare of noodles and dumplings, usual for cheap eateries.

One of the remarkable peculiarities of Chinese cuisine is its flexibility. Chinese cooks overseas have been able to invent different dishes, which appear to be ``Chinese,’’ but are completely unknown in China proper. The staple of Chinese restaurant food in the West -- chop suey and sweet and sour meat -- are almost unknown in China. In Korea, the Chinese cooks also came out with few new dishes, which suited Korean palates well. The most remarkable of them was chajangmyon, noodles covered with dark brown sauce. For decades, this has been one of the best selling ``Chinese’’ dishes in Korea even though nobody in China had ever heard of it. Other successes were hot ttok, sweet thick pancakes, and assorted dumplings (all these three being authentic dishes of Northeast China).

Until the 1950s Chinese cuisine was still seen as exotic, almost unknown to common Koreans. A hit radio comedy of the mid-1950s depicted a family quarrel. An outraged woman yelled at her hapless husband: ``Who promised that if we married we would live in a multi-story building? Who said that we would fly in planes? Who promised that we would eat in Chinese restaurants?’’ In those days all three promises sounded equally improbable. Koreans seldom could afford dining at restaurants.

Some of the reasons for this growth were the same as for the ``restaurant boom’’ in general. An increasing disposable income made restaurants affordable, while the growth of cities made it physically impossible for the average clerk to return home for lunch. But there were specifics, too. Chinese cuisine made good use of wheat flour (initially an exotic in Korea), and it was positioned to use the influx of cheap flour, which was the major type of American food aid in the 1950s and 1960s."

Source: The Dawn of Modern Korea