Honey Ginger Chicken with Jasmine Rice

Soooooooo yesterday we went to B's mom's house for a lunch/dinner/linner.....dunch? Ok, that's enough. She made a roast with asparagus and RICE. I only spooned out a little bit of this rice because a. I don't need mom thinking I'm a savage and b. I do enough carb unloading in my mouth as it is. But once I put a spoonful of those white, fluffy grains in my mouth, I knew I had made the wrong decision. I grew eyes in the back of my head that faced the stove where more rice was sitting. I know, I know, it's just rice, but I am a carb queen, errr princess. It was so light and fluffy and reminded me of the rice I had in Hawaii. Of course I asked her how she made it, and she simply replied that she had used 2 cups of water instead of the recommended 1 1/2. Mom is a genius. More water --> more moisture --> softer rice. It's just science. So all day Monday I was thinking about RICE. RICE RICE RICE. The little Asian inside of me was begging me to find a recipe that involved rice so I could finally make it the right way. I found this Cooking Light recipe for Honey-Ginger Chicken Bites.

I adapted it a little and used the following ingredients:

• 2/3  cup  honey
• 2  tablespoons  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine vinegar
• 2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of orange juice
  
• 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
• 2  teaspoons  cornstarch
• 2  teaspoons  water
• sesame seeds

First I made a marinade with the first nine ingredients. Brandon cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces (or should I say *nuggets*?) and then added them to the marinade. The chicken marinaded in the fridge for about 30 minutes while I tried to whoop Brandon's *(&%@(W&%^(*^& at Wheel of Fortune. 

I read on the bag of Jasmine rice that you're supposed to rinse the rice in water several times. Ummm what is that!? Apparently you need to rinse off residue from the milling process. Hmm. The only colander he had was one with holes that were way bigger than the rice.  I panicked/whined/moaned to B that it wasn't going to come out right because we couldn't rinse it. His man response was to initially ignore me, forgetting that I am quite persistent. Then Boy Genius (clearly Mom Genius' son) told me to poke tiny holes in a ziploc bag and rinse the rice in it. Wow. 

When the chicken was done marinading, I used a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the bag to cook for about 15-20 minutes at 425*.

 

While the chicken was cooking, I used the rest of the marinade to make a glaze. I put the marinade in the pan and brought it to a slow boil. In a cup, I mixed the cornstarch with the water, and then added that to the marinade to thicken it. 

 

After a couple minutes, it thickened perfectly! I took the chicken out and drizzled the glaze over it, topped it with sesame seeds, then roasted it for just another minute or two. 

Finally, I plopped the nuggets over the warm jasmine rice (that came out perfectly by the way) and we ate! The chicken was soooo good. I highly recommend this recipe!