Char Siu Chicken

For this week’s recipe, I wanted to try something Chinese and came across char siu, the Chinese version of barbecue.  Usually the recipe is made with pork, either loin, pork belly or pork butt. However I had no pork in the house and I didn’t feel like going to the store.  However, by luck, I had all the other ingredients.  Plus, I did have a stash of chicken quarters and thighs that I thought would be a good substitute for the pork.  I went ahead and made the dish with chicken.

Char Siu Chicken, adapted from Cooking Light’s Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork Roast

Ingredients:

Char Siu Chicken served over rice vermicelli

• ¼ cp soy sauce
• ¼ cp hoisin sauce
• 3 Tbsp ketchup
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated\
• 1 tsp dark sesame oil
• ½ tsp five-spice powder
• 2 lbs of dark chicken pieces (quarters, thighs and/or drumsticks)
• ½ cp chicken broth

Directions:

1. Mix everything but the chicken and the broth in a small bowl and whisk well to make a marinade.   
2. In a large zip top bag, marinate the chicken pieces in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
3. Place chicken and marinade in the slow cooker; cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
4. Remove chicken from slow cooker; set aside.
5. Add the chicken broth to sauce in slow cooker; cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens.  In the meanwhile, remove the skin and bones, then shred chicken with 2 forks.
6. Return the chicken to the slow cooker and combine; serve hot.

I really enjoyed the rich undertones of the hoisin and honey that permeated into the chicken so that each bit of chicken is like the color of mahogany.  The five-spice powder adds a little sweet from the anise and fennel and a good little burn and heat from pepper, and from the clove and cinnamon, I get a little of both. It is a great marriage of protein and fat, sweet and savory, that is the hallmark of Cantonese cuisine.