Soy Sauce Chicken

My sister recently came to visit me for an extended weekend. I decided to make a simple dinner at home since she was arriving into town after a 8+ hour drive. On the menu was a summery watermelon arugula salad and soy sauce chicken with rice.

I had my soy sauce chicken sauce which I keep in the freezer.  This is how I think lo sui sauce is made. The literal translation for lo sui is "old water". The chicken imparts flavor and collagen into the sauce as it cooks. The reduction and collagen thickens the sauce with each use. With so much soy sauce and the fact that it is frozen and then reboiled each time, I've never been concerned about the sauce turning.

My sister loved having steamed white rice mixed with the braising sauce so much that she made herself at least 1 bowl for each day of her visit.

Soy Sauce Chicken

1 tsp cooking oil

3 slices ginger

2 stalks green onions/scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 cup regular soy sauce

1 cup dark premium soy sauce

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp Shaoxing wine

2 tbsp rock sugar or white sugar

1 star anise pod or 5 star anise seeds

1/4 tsp five spice powder

4 pieces of chicken legs or thighs, skin-on and bone-in

peeled hard boiled eggs (optional)

Heat up cooking oil in a pot. Stir-fry ginger and green onions/scallions for 2 minutes or until fragrant. 

Add regular soy sauce, dark premium soy sauce, water, Shaoxing wine, sugar, star anise and 5-spice powder. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes.

Add chicken pieces and bring back up to a boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to a low simmer with lid on but propped up slightly for steam to escape. Cook on low simmer for 1 hour. Turn the chicken every 15 minutes if not completely submerged in the liquid.

Set chicken aside on serving platter. Strain braising sauce and discard the solids. 

*Optional: Marinate hard boiled eggs in the braising sauce to make soy sauce eggs! Just let the eggs sit in the sauce overnight in the fridge.

Pour braising sauce into a freezer safe container, leaving 1 1/2 inch of space from the top of the container. Let cool and store in freezer for next time. The flavor and viscosity of the sauce will improve with each use. Just add more soy sauce and water (2:1 ratio) if the liquid reduces too much over time.

There will be a layer of fat floating on top of the sauce. That will form an air-tight seal and protect the sauce from freezer burn. You can scrap it off before reheating next time.