Twice Cooked!

Last night, I originally planned to cook soy chicken for dinner. It's a simple dish that involves simmering half or a whole chicken in soy sauce and sesame oil. I remember getting excited whenever my mom cooks this for lunch or dinner on a weekend.

I tried a different approach to this simple dish though. I want to surprise my husband; oftentimes, after a long tiring day at work, it is always good to come home and find good food on the table right?

So let me share this flavorful dish with you. For this wonderful dish you'll need the following:

1 whole chicken or half (my family is only able to consume half)

1 pc. 5 star anise

3-4 tbsp soy sauce, Kikkoman is best  (adjust as needed)

3 tbsp sesame oil

4 cloves of garlic, pounded

1 whole onion, skin removed

dash of ground pepper

1. Prepare the chicken, clean it very well, scrub the skin with salt and wash with running water. Do this twice to ensure that the chicken is clean before you put it in the pot.

2. Cut the chicken in the middle make sure it looks this way. Rub the chicken all over with a little salt and pepper.

3. Arrange the garlic, onion, and 5 star anise at the bottom of the pot.Let the chicken lie face down on top of the garlic, onion and 5 star anise.

4. Pour about 1 cup of water or until the chicken is completely submerged in the water.

5. Tip in the soysauce and half the amount of sesame oil and simmer. In between simmering, invert chicken so that it cooks the other side as well. You can add water don't let the chicken go dry, but at the same time adjust the taste by adding a bit of salt or soy sauce. Add 1/2 tsp of sugar as well,. this will make such a huge difference in the taste.

6. The next process would be roasting the just simmered chicken. Do not throw out the sauce as this will come in handy later.

7. Dry the chicken of it's sauce by hanging it upside down until most of the sauce have dripped down the pot.

8. Place the chicken on a baking tray and roast in in the oven for about 10-15 mins or until the chicken is a bit crispy.

This will now go into my oven along with my potatoes

9. Thicken the sauce that you've set aside by putting cornstarch mix when it reaches boiling point. You can pour some of this over your roasted chicken. 

10. 9. When the chicken is done, transfer to a clean serving tray. Garnish with green salad or lemon. Serve hot with rice, dinner rolls or just like what I did, baked potatoes.

Dinner is served! Buon Appetito!