Khao Na Gai ข้าวหน้าไก่: Thai Chicken in Brown Sauce over Rice

This is my dumbed-down version of Khao Na Gai* (ข้าวหน้าไก่ - steamed rice topped with chicken in brown sauce). The more traditional version involves a few more accoutrements in which I'm not very much interested. Some people add sliced bamboo shoot, oyster mushroom, or baby corn into the chicken sauce, but I don't. Some people serve this with sliced fresh jalapeño and cucumber, but I don't.

Why? More ingredients, more dishes to wash. I guess I'm lazy and it shows.

Khao Na Gai: On What to Make When There's Nothing Else in the Fridge but a Chicken Breast
(Serves one)

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One 4-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or any kind of hard liquor (I've used Calvados before and it wasn't weird.)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup water
Ground black pepper, to taste

Whisk all the ingredients, except the chicken and vegetable oil, together in a bowl. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a small nonstick skillet. Saute the chicken until almost cooked through. Dump the sauce mixture into the skillet and stir. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more water. Pour the warm chicken sauce over a mound of steamed Jasmine rice.

*Or Khaaw Naa Gai for fellow anal linguists out there.