Prior to the Husband being diagnosed with Fructose Malabsorption and our move to Australia, our favourite London restaurant was Will Ricker’s XO. As we could not eat there (due to diet and distance) I decided to bring alive some of the recipes through the Eastern & Oriental cookbook, with a few slight changes. This is not a recipe for first time cooks but it is truly excellent! The chicken used needs to be cut into eight pieces. You can either have your butcher do it or it is surprisingly easy to do yourself (and cheaper) by watching
this terrific video from the New York Times
Ingredients
Master Stock Chicken
- 1.5l Water
- 200ml White Wine
- 8 tbsp Ketjap Manis (if you cannot find a fructose friendly version then I have my own version in the "Essentials" section)
- 4 tbsp Soya Sauce (for gluten free use gluten free soya sauce)
- 4 tbsp Rock Sugar (or 3 tbsp sugar)
- 4 Star Anise
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- Peel from 1 Lime (reserve the juice of the lime for use in the dipping sauce)
- 8cm piece of Fresh Ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 Spring Onions (green parts only), roughly chopped
- 1 Chicken, cut into 8 pieces (see video for instructions on how to do this easily)
Spiced Butter
- 100g Dairy Free Margarine
- ¼ tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Freshly ground white pepper (or use black pepper if you don’t have any white)
- 1 tsp Salt
Chilli Salt
- 1 Small Dried Chilli
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 4 tsp Sesame Seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan
- 3 tsp Ground Peppercorns
Dipping Sauce
- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
- 1 Lime, juiced
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 5cm piece of Ginger, peeled and grated
Utensils
- Stockpot or Large Saucepan
- Roasting Tin
- Electric Spice Grinder
- Small Bowl
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- To make the master stock, place all the ingredients, apart from the chicken pieces, in the stockpot or very large saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and poach for 20 minutes, leaving them slightly undercooked.
- Whilst the stock is cooking, make up the spiced butter by mixing all the ingredients together, in a small bowl, until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use (can be done up to a day ahead) but bring it back to room temperature before using.
- Once the chicken is finished poaching, remove them from the liquid and pat them dry with a paper towel. Rub the spiced butter under the skin. Place in the roasting tin, pop it in the oven and roast it for 20 minutes until the juices run clear and the skin is crispy.
- Whilst the chicken is cooking make the chilli salt by whizzing the chilli and salt in the spice grinder, to make it into a thick powder and then mixing it in with the remaining ingredients. Transfer to a small serving bowl.
- Make the dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients in a second, small serving bowl.
Arrange the crisp chicken on a platter and serve with the chilli salt and dipping sauce on the side. I serve it with rice and pak choi too.
