Name: Soy-Poached Chicken with Sesame Sha Cha Dipping Sauce (沙茶醬豉油雞)
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 2 tablespoons sesame paste; 1 thumb-size piece of ginger; 3 spring onions (scallions); ½ teaspoon white pepper; 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine; 4 tablespoons light soy sauce; 2 litres (3½ pints/8½ cups) fresh chicken stock; 1 x 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) whole corn-fed free-range chicken; 2 teaspoons salt; 2 tablespoons sha cha barbecue sauce; 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 star anise; 1 small cinnamon stick

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Hong Kong Diner

By Jeremy Pang

Published 2017

About

The process of cooking a whole soy-poached chicken is very similar to that of a Hainanese chicken. However, the beauty of Chinese cooking is that simple changes such as caramelizing a mixture of soy sauce and sugar may seem subtle in technique, but make distinct variations in flavour. The slightly caramelized flavour of the chicken interacts well with the saltiness of the sesame dipping sauce.