Tau Yu Chicken

 This is a malay/chinese/singaporean dish usually made with pork (Tau yu bak) but I didn't have pork, I had chicken. It was really tasty-- sweet, salty and really complex. I paired it with the congee but I think it would work great as a part of a chinese dinner or just over steamed white rice. Recipe adapted from a few different recipes I found on the net. The garlic in the skin were good, but if I have time I'm going to just peel and finely dice the garlic instead.

Ingredients

Marinate the chicken as below

• 600-750g chicken thighs (5-6 thighs) cut into chunks against the grain
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1-2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2-4 tablespoons oyster sauce
• chicken stock concentrate
  

Other ingredients

• 5-10 cloves garlic, either in the skin or diced
• 1-2 tablespoons of diced ginger
• 2 star anise
• 1" cinnamon stick
• 3-4 green cardamom
• 300ml water
• 4 tablespoons dark soy
• Mushrooms (I used shimeji this time)

Method

1. Marinate the chicken (the recipes I read said overnight is best, I think I managed maybe 30 minutes in total and it was still delicious)
2. Add a splash of oil to a pan and when it gets hot, add in the spices and after they bloom, then the ginger and then the garlic. 
3. Once the onion and garlic have fried off for a few minutes (edges brown and reduced but not burnt) add in the marinated chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and the reduce the heat to medium, cover and let it cook for 20 minutes
5. Take the cover off and let it reduce until it is the consistency you want. This was taking too long for us, so we ended up spooning out the chicken and then reducing the sauce over high heat and then adding the meat back in when we were ready.