Red cooking - a process whereby meat is slowly simmered in dark soy sauce, imparting a reddish tinge to the final product - is a popular cooking technique in eastern China.
Ingredients:
- 1 young chicken, about 2 1/2 pounds
- 3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 green onions
- 1 chunk rock sugar, or 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups soy sauce (3/4 cup light soy sauce and 3/4 cup dark or mushroom soy sauce is a good combination)
- 1 cup water, or as needed
- 1 clove star anise
- 2 or 3-inch cinnamon stick
- 2 slices ginger
Preparation:
Wipe the chicken with a damp cloth. Rub the rice wine over the skin. Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.Cut the green onion on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces. Use a mortar and pestle to crush the rock sugar, if using. In a large saucepan, bring the soy sauce and rock or brown sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the water, star anise, cinnamon stick, and ginger.
Add the marinated chicken and bring back to a boil. (The chicken should fit as snugly as possible in the pot, so that the soy sauce and water mixture nearly covers the chicken). Reduce the heat and simmer the chicken, covered, until it is cooked through (30 to 40 minutes). Cool and chop into bite-sized pieces. Serve hot, with the sauce reboiled and poured over, or serve cold.
More Red Cooked Chicken Recipes
Spicy Soy Sauce Chicken (Red Cooked Chicken) Cold Chicken Soy Sauce Chicken With Shiitake Mushrooms-uses chicken thighs
