Late Night Lab Work: Sesame-Crusted Vinegar Chicken On Arugula

When I'm home by myself and I get a little snackish, it's fun just to see what I can throw together from random stuff in the fridge. Sometimes it's a spectacular failure.  The other night I put something together that turned out pretty well, and while I want to keep developing it, I'd thought I'd share the results now, in part because it gives me a chance to talk about this:

This is Chinkiang vinegar. It's a dark, Chinese vinegar made from high-quality glutinous rice. It's bitter, but not in an overbearing way, and it's also has a very mild, caramel sweetness. Beth discovered it in the cafe of 888 International Market. The cafe serves up good, cheap eats, and the market itself is a treasure trove of ingredients you can't find anywhere else in the area. We've found a lot of great stuff there, but this vinegar is one of our favorites. We use it all the time, and we love love love it.

I took some leftover chicken thigh meat and put it in a marinade of 2 parts soy to 1 part Chinkiang vinegar, and maybe a quarter teaspoon of Chinese five-spice powder (which is a blend of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds). Not only does the marinating impart that bittersweet flavor through the entirety of the chicken, but the acids in the vinegar tenderize the meat.

While it was marinating, I got the cast iron skillet super hot. Then I put some fresh arugula in bowl, and drizzled a little bit of the vinegar on it, then a little bit of sesame oil. I also put some of the sesame oil in the skillet. I rolled the chicken pieces in sesame seeds and dropped them in the skillet. When the pieces were cooked and the seeds seared into the meat, I put it on top of the arugula, garnished with cilantro and lime and ate like crazy. The chicken was super soft and tender, and the vinegar played really well with the sesame seeds. Like I said, I want to keep refining this, but it seems like a good start.