Need an Easy Dinner? Savor Over Sesame Snap Pea Chicken

Whether it's Cashew Chicken Cumin Lamb or Mongolian Beef, I'm a huge fan of quick Asian stir-fries. They're easy to prep, quick to cook, and delicious to eat, making them a perfect entree for a quick weeknight dinner.

This easy stir-fry is loaded with tender juicy slices of chicken, sweet snap peas, and savory shimeji mushrooms and comes together in about 10 minutes. But it's not the quick and easy prep that makes this dish so appealing; it's the taste. With a vibrant array of colors, tastes and textures this sesame snap pea chicken will literally turn the corners of your mouth upwards into an umami-induced smile.

I've used chicken breast here, which can end up like damp cardboard if it's mishandled, but I have a few tricks I want to share with you to ensure the chicken is flavorful and juicy. The first thing is to slice the chicken thinly so it cooks quickly and evenly. This saves you from guessing whether the chicken is cooked or not. The next trick is to marinate it with salt and sake. This takes the bland, lean cut of poultry and infuses it with a ton of umami. Finally, I added some potato starch to the marinated chicken to lock in the chicken juices. The starch gels any liquids trying to escape, keeping the chicken nice and tender.

The marinated chicken then gets pan-fried until it's about 3/4 cooked and then the snap peas and mushrooms are added and stir-fried for a few seconds. A simple mixture of soy sauce and sake gets added before the pan is covered with a lid for the snap peas to steam to crisp green perfection. To finish it off, a generous sprinkle of ground toasted sesame seeds gets toss in, imbuing the dish an intoxicatingly nutty flavor.