Soy Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, about 1.6kg
• 2 litres water
• 250ml light soy sauce
• 60ml dark soy sauce
• 120g rock sugar
• 100ml Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp Chinese rose wine (mei gui lu jiu)
• 6 slices ginger
• 3 spring onions
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 piece dried tangerine peel
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 2 tsp neutral oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil, to finish

Before you cook

• Take the chicken out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking and remove any giblets.
• Rinse the bird inside and out and pat it completely dry.
• Smash the spring onions with the flat of a knife and cut them into three.
• Rinse the tangerine peel in warm water.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a deep pot just large enough to hold the chicken.
2. Fry the ginger and spring onions for 1 minute, until they sizzle and smell sweet.
3. Add the star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and tangerine peel and fry for 30 seconds.
4. Pour in the Shaoxing wine and rose wine and let them bubble for 1 minute.
5. Add the light soy, dark soy, rock sugar, salt and water.
6. Bring the master stock to the boil, then simmer it for 20 minutes to marry the flavours.
7. Lower the chicken in breast side down, adding hot water if it is not just covered.
8. Bring the pot back to a bare simmer, where only the odd bubble breaks the surface.
9. Poach for 12 minutes, then lift the bird by the cavity to drain the cool liquid inside and lower it back in.
10. Turn the chicken breast side up and poach for another 15 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and leave the chicken in the stock for 25 minutes.
12. Lift the chicken out and rest it on a board for 10 minutes.
13. Ladle 250ml of the stock into a small pan and boil it for 5 minutes, until syrupy.
14. Brush the chicken with sesame oil and chop it through the bone into bite-sized pieces.
15. Pour the reduced sauce over the chicken and serve with steamed rice.