Ningdu Three Cup Chicken

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg free-range chicken, jointed into bite-sized pieces on the bone
• 120 ml Shaoxing rice wine
• 100 ml light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 100 g lard
• 50 g fresh ginger
• 1 whole head garlic
• 4 dried red chillies
• 2 tsp rock sugar
• 3 spring onions
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Before you cook

• Rinse the chicken pieces and pat them thoroughly dry with kitchen paper.
• Slice the ginger into thin coins without peeling it.
• Separate the head of garlic into cloves and peel them, leaving each one whole.
• Snip the dried chillies in half.
• Cut the spring onions into four-centimetre lengths.

Steps

1. Melt the lard in a heavy clay pot or cast-iron casserole over a medium flame.
2. Add the ginger coins and fry them for two minutes until their edges curl and brown.
3. Add the whole garlic cloves and dried chillies and fry for another minute.
4. Turn the heat to high and add the chicken pieces skin side down.
5. Sear the chicken for five minutes without stirring, so the skin takes on colour.
6. Turn the pieces and fry for three minutes more.
7. Pour in the Shaoxing wine and let it boil for one minute to drive off the harshness.
8. Add both soy sauces and the rock sugar, and stir once to coat everything.
9. Cover the pot tightly and turn the heat down to low.
10. Braise for twenty minutes without adding a drop of water, shaking the pot every five minutes so nothing catches.
11. Take off the lid and raise the heat to high.
12. Boil for six to eight minutes, turning the chicken constantly, until the liquid reduces to a syrupy glaze that clings to every piece.
13. Scatter in the spring onions and toss them through.
14. Trickle over the sesame oil and serve the chicken straight from the pot.