Piece by Piece

I found this black-sauced chicken recipe a while ago and decided to try my hands on them. The taste of this dish reminds me of my favorite Singaporean chicken rice dish. Interestingly, this favorite dish can be found at National Junior College’s canteen. You see, unlike the notorious American school cafeteria lunches, I think Asian schools’ canteens serves better food in terms of quality and nutrition.

Another fascinating aspect about this recipe is the fact that the first time you make it, you are not only making a dish but you are also making a master sauce. The black sauce supposedly gets better and darker with age like a good wine. Just the thought of it overwhelmed me at first. This is the very thing that many famous family-owned-and-operated Chinese restaurants do. What I mean here is those restaurants that have a “secret recipe used since ages ago” thing going on in their menus. I was told once that the old age tradition often comes in forms like master sauce, master broth, wok that has never been cleaned for 30 years. Okay, if the last one sounds frightening to you, just remember that they cook with that wok over high heat so whatever germs or bacteria in there should be dead and you will only get the essence of goodness out of it.

Now, this master sauce can be kept up to 5 years in the freezer and thaw it whenever you want to use it. You can add more water to the sauce to cook as with time it evaporates and will get very sticky due to the sugar content. You can add the herbs (cinnamon stick, star aniseed, cloves) to it once in a while depending how you like it. Some people prefer a more subdued fragrance and some just absolutely dig the smell. After 5 years or when you find the sauce not salty enough for your taste, you can recycle it by adding the liquid seasonings again.

It is very practical and flexible. I use it to cook boneless chicken breast (of course the time has to be adjusted for this one) in the picture above. You can also use it to cook duck and pork. Making the master sauce needs a little bit more time, but after you have one in store, it can be categoried under quick, simple meal.

Black-Sauced Chicken

Ingredients:
1 large chicken (about 2-3 pound)

Seasonings:
3 tbsp + 1 tsp Dark Soy sauce
2 tbsp Light soy sauce
2 tbsp Molasses or Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup water

Spices:
2 pcs cinnamon sticks
5 pcs Star Aniseeds
1 tsp cloves

Method:
1. In a wok or a deep non-stick frying pan, add seasonings to boil.
2. When it is boiling, add spices.
3. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes until fragrant.
4. Slowly slide in the chicken. Cook the chicken on medium heat.
5. Turn the chicken every 5 minutes, scooping the gravy and pouring it over the chicken every time you flip. You need to add water sometimes as heating the sauce over 30 minutes will evaporate it.
6. Cook the chicken for 30 or more depending on the size of the chicken. Turn off the fire.
7. Leave the chicken in the wok to soak for another 10 minutes.
8. Remove chicken and leave it on a large plate to cool off completely.
9. Chop chicken into smaller pieces and serve with white rice or chicken rice.

Notes:
You can add hard boiled eggs to soak/coat with the sauce too.
You can eat this with noodles (regular 3 minute noodles) and use the sauce to braise the noodles with black-sauced chicken and steamed greens on the side.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, Quick Meals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.