this "baked chicken in painful fragrant sauce" is simply a new variant of our all-time favourite "baked buttered chicken". i thought of tweaking the original recipe for an upcoming potluck lunch of our church whose food theme is chinese-japanese. the mere mention of chinese-japanese draws me down memory lane, during my childhood days, when we would rap and clap, "chi-nese-japa-nese-pili-pino-ne-gro!" repeatedly -- those were the days, my friend!
the recipe is (in fact) a fusion -- or is it a confusion? -- of flavours. one thing it is -- it is unbearably "hot", ergo, "painful". the chicken itself when eaten, ie, if you eat the chicken only without pouring any sauce on it, it is tolerably "hot", non chili lovers may enjoy it with an extra spoonful of rice ; but eaten with the sauce your mouth becomes indescribably "hot", thus, "painful" -- but pleasantly painful ; and hot chili lovers will enjoy it with an extra cupful or two of rice!
what makes the sauce "hot" is my homemade variant of habanero pepper oil -- flavourful and fruity, and intensely "hot"! the habanero oil complements the delectably sweet butter flavour and the savoury fragrant sauce made from ngo hiong (five spice) powder and sangke (star anise) bud in soy sauce.
for a kilo of chicken, whether whole or in parts, all you need is:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ngo hiong (five spice) powder
1 whole sanke (star anise) bud
2 tbsp butter or table margarine
3 tbsp habanero oil (or any chili pepper oil available)
what to do:
- pre-heat oven to 350F or 165C
- in baking dish, rub chicken completely with soy sauce and ngo hiong powder
- leave excess soy sauce in baking dish
- add the butter to the soy sauce mixture
- drop the sanke bud in the soy sauce-butter mixture
- bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes on middle rack
- baste the chicken with the sauce in the baking dish every 15 minutes
- remove from oven when done, and serve with rice
good eats!!!!
