Soy-braised chicken

Another popular Chinese dish is Soy-Braised Chicken. This dish is originated from Dezhou in Shandong Province in China, is a traditional dish of Dezhou which is also called Dezhou Braised Chicken or Dezhou Five Fragrant Boneless Braised Chicken. This typical dish is created by the Deshunzai Restaurant in Dezhou in the time of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. The finished product of this dish is tender, more fleshy and savory that the more chewy it gets, the more it's appealing. It became popular and nationally knowned in the past 100 years or more and this dish has become a favorite by domestic and international visitors.

The ingredients we need for cooking are:

1 chicken, about 1.4kg/3lb
1 tablespoon ground black
peppercorns
2 tablespoons minced fresh
root ginger
75ml/3fl oz light soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
vegetable oil for deep-frying
600ml/1pt chicken stock
2 teaspoons salt
25g/1oz crystallized sugar

The procedure:

Rub the chicken both inside and out with the peppercorns and ginger.
Marinate the chicken with the soy sauce, rice wine and brown sugar for
at least 3 hours in the refrigerator, turning it several times.

Heat a wok until very hot. Add the oil and, when the oil is hot enough,
remove the chicken from the marinade (reserving the marinade), and
deep-fry for 6 minutes or until brown all over. Remove and drain on
kitchen paper.

Pour off any excess oil, add the marinade with the stock, salt and
crystallized sugar, and bring to the boil. Return the chicken to the pan,
cover and braise the chicken in the sauce for 35–40 minutes, turning
once or twice.

Remove the chicken from the wok and allow it cool a little before
chopping it into bite-size pieces. Pour the sauce over the chicken and
serve immediately.