The Stickiest Sticky Chicken

A special request from my youngest here.

I’ve posted about sticky wings before but this is for a whole chook so you get leftovers if you are lucky! What to do with the leftovers….use the meat in stir fried rice of as a filling in Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

To be honest, one chook isn’t enough in our house and I love the leftovers so I usually double the recipe!

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1.6-1.8kg whole chicken cut into ten pieces, skin on and bones in

6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated

40mls honey

80mls gluten free soy sauce

Method

Combine the garlic, ginger, honey and soy in a large bowl. Add the chicken and mix well to coat.

Leave to marinade for 2-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Lay the chicken pieces on the prepared tray, skin side up, brush over some of the marinade.

Slide the chicken into the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, baste with the marinade every 10-15 minutes and towards the end baste with the pan juices.

Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Twice Cooked Pork With Star Anise

This is a traditional Chinese way of dealing with fattier cuts of meat and it really works.

To ensure your dish is gluten free, if you need to, check your hoisin sauce, rice wine and chilli bean sauce as these are the places that gluten will be hiding. You can use sherry as an alternative to the rice wine if necessary.

This is a BIG quantity, it will feed 12 at least! I like to freeze leftovers in individual boxes with some cooked rice for easy dinners another day.

Ingredients

2.2 kg meaty spare ribs

80g fresh ginger, scrubbed and sliced, I don’t bother peeling it

4 spring onions, topped and tailed and cut into 3-5cm lengths

6 star anise

8 peppercorns

salt

50mls oil

4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

700g red capsicum, deseeded, sliced into 5cm pieces

400g red onion, peeled and cut into wedges

2 leeks, white part only, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2cm semi circles and washed

3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

100g gluten free chilli bean sauce

200mls chicken stock

100mls Chinese rice wine

10g sugar

2 spring onions, topped and tailed and finely sliced

Method

Fill a large, I use a six litre pan, with cold water, salt it well and add the spare ribs.

Bring the pan up to the boil and simmer for five minutes, skim off any impurities.

Add the ginger, spring onions, star anise and pepper.

Bring back up to the boil and simmer for 1 hour.

Drain the meat in a colander and discard the ginger, spring onions, star anise and peppercorns.

Once the meat is cool enough to handle, gently remove the bones and gristle and cut into 1-2 cm cubes.

Bring a large frying pan or wok up to a high heat, add the oil.

Once the oil is hot, stir fry the pork until the fat is rendering and it’s becoming crispy. This can take 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your meat and strength of your heat source.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork, set the meat aside and drain off most of the fat in the pan.

Return the pan to the heat and add the garlic, capsicum, onion and leeks. Stir fry for 5 minutes.

Return the meat to the pan, stir well.

Combine the soy sauce, chilli bean sauce, chicken stock, rice wine and sugar in a jug, stir well and then pour into the meat mix.

Stir to combine and then cover, bring up to a simmer, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Serve topped with the last two spring onions.