Sweet chili sesame chicken

Chicken second courses

I'm not one to dredge up the past, unless of course it involves food. I was never a very adventurous eater as a kid (can you say, supertaster?) and so, from age 5 to 25, anytime we went to Little Ollie's (one of the few Chinese food restaurants in the little town where I grew up), I rarely strayed from my favorite dish: sesame chicken. This was no ordinary sesame chicken, let me be clear. Little Ollie's version is not breaded or battered, but rather coated in crunchy sesame seeds and served with white rice and a medley of peas and carrots. The sauce is sweet, almost like candy (probably why I liked it so much), and translucent orange instead of rich brown. It seemed simple. Until I tried to recreate it. Taste memories, as it turns out, might be strong enough to make you salivate, but they aren't exactly helpful in the recipe development process. It was obvious when I didn't have it right, but quite a bit harder to know what to change or add to get there. I'm not joking when I say