spiced steeped chicken

steeped chicken is originally a style of cooking chicken whereby we infuse it with light flavours and serving it with contrasting pungent sauce to accentuate the flavours . somewhat inspired , i took a daring plunge and modified it to my own style . so here goes...spiced steeped chicken :

what you need ar ?

1 whole fresh chicken ( mine was about 1.8 kg) .
6 cloves of garlic , crushed but not chopped ar .
4 spring onions , chopped .
6-8 heaped tablespoons of chicken stock powder .
3 teaspoons of light soy sauce .

seems normal so far leh ? here are my own twists :

1 stalk lemongrass (don't do anything to it) .
3 thumb size chunks of ginger .
3 red chillis , incompletely perforated on both sides (i.e. three one inch cuts along each side) :


(allows extraction of chilli flavours without the interference of the seeds) .
1 star anise .
8 cloves .
11 kafir lime leaves .
a handful of chopped coriander .
3 tablespoons of ground white pepper .

how liao ?

before you do anything , make sure the chicken is clean hor . for extra measure , pour some red vinegar generously into the chicken . this contributes to flavour and also acts as a disinfectant .

then , make sure you have a pot big enough for it , chuck the chicken inside and fill it with just enough water to immerse the chicken in . i didn't have a big pot so i improvised using one of my deep pans , and covering the exposed parts with another pan to capture the steam ensuring it was cooked in time . anyhow , just put all the above mentioned ingredients into the pot with the chicken , bring it to a boil and let the mix simmer for a nice hour . by then , your broth will contain yummy rendered fat and your chicken will be so soft , you don't even need a knife to pick off the bones . of coure , needless to say , unless you want to be selfish , don't eat this alone hor...can finish one chicken alone meh ?



serve with rice . the broth is surprisingly yummy (if you pretend the degraded ingredients were invisible ar) . if you want an individual sauce to accompany this , just mix some chilli (preferably the small red cili padis hor) , minced garlic , 1/2 light soy sauce , 1/2 dark soy sauce , and a generous amount of sesame oil (peanut oil also can) lor .



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