Black-Skinned Chicken Slow-Cooked in Dark Soy Sauce

Black-Skinned Chicken Slow-Cooked in Dark Soy Sauce
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Rating
4(21)
Comments
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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 2tablespoons canola oil
  • 1large Spanish onion, diced
  • 5cloves garlic, smashed
  • ¼cup Chinese bean paste
  • 22- to 2½-pound chickens, head and feet discarded, cleaned and rinsed
  • 1inch-thick piece of unpeeled ginger, cut into 4 pieces
  • 1inch-thick piece unpeeled fresh or frozen galangal, smashed
  • 2Thai bird chilies
  • ½cup wolfberries or ¼ cup finely diced dried apricots
  • ¼cup diced jujubes (also known as hong zao or red dates) or ⅛ cup of dried brown dates, diced
  • 3cups dark soy sauce
  • 1cup cola
  • 1star anise pod
  • 2cardamom pods
  • 2cinnamon sticks
  • 1clove
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add oil. When oil is hot, add onion, garlic and bean paste, and sauté until onion is tender.

  2. Step 2

    Add chickens, ginger, galangal, chilies, wolfberries, jujubes, soy sauce and cola. Stir, and add star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and just enough water to cover chickens. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove chickens, cut into serving pieces, and serve with broth ladled over chicken and steamed rice.

  3. Step 3

    If you want a thicker sauce, remove chickens. Cook broth over high heat until it becomes syrupy and glossy, about 20 minutes. If too salty, add a little water. Cut chicken into serving portions, add to sauce, heat through and serve.

Tip
  • Bean paste, chickens, galangal, chilies, wolfberries, jujubes and dark soy sauce can be bought in Chinese food stores.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
21 user ratings
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Comments

Used recipe given substitutions. Did not have galangal. Wife was reminded of duck. Meat was very tender. Despite using a slightly too big pot and having to add too much (?) water, sauce was too salty and uninteresting. Maybe the brand of dark soy sauce was to blame.

Way too salty

Used recipe given substitutions. Did not have galangal. Wife was reminded of duck. Meat was very tender. Despite using a slightly too big pot and having to add too much (?) water, sauce was too salty and uninteresting. Maybe the brand of dark soy sauce was to blame.

Are you sure you had “real” dark soy sauce? Its actually pretty sweet. You can make your own out of regular soy sauce.

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Credits

Adapted from Patricia Yeo

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