Gizzi’s Soy Roast Chicken

10 minutes, plus marinating time prep, 1 hour 10 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 whole chicken 1.5-2kg

6 spring onions

1 tbsp groundnut oil

Decent pinch of sea salt

For the marinade:

3 tbsps light soy sauce (we used Lee Kum Kee)

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (we used Lee Kum Kee)

3 tbsps golden caster sugar

1 tbsp sesame oil

60ml rice vinegar

3 tbsp oyster sauce (we used Lee Kum Kee)

1.2 tsps Chinese 5 spice

1 tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

5 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

1 red chilli, halved

Method

Mix together all of the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl. Place the chicken on a roasting tray. Pour the marinade all over the chicken, massaging it into the skin, and stuffing the ginger pieces and chilli into the cavity of the chicken. Allow to marinate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.

Once the marinating time is up, preheat the oven to 190ºC/Fan 160ºC/Gas 5. Now this next bit is a little fiddly, but trust me it’s worth it. With a needle and thread, carefully sew up the skin around the base cavity of the chicken, (blanket stitch is ideal for this), so that it is as tightly sealed as possible. Pour off the marinade into a jug.

Give the roasting tray and wash, and then lay the spring onions in a line to act as a trivet for the chicken. Next, pour the marinade back into the cavity of the chicken through the neck cavity. Gently place on top of the spring onions being careful not to lose any juices. Finally, sew the skin of the neck cavity up to contain all of the marinade within the chicken. Drizzle the groundnut oil over the chicken, and season liberally with salt. Put in the oven for 1 hour 10 minutes, depending on the size of the bird.

Allow the chicken to rest for 20 minutes before serving. To serve; cut through the part of the chicken that’s been sewn together and Pour out the juices. Carve the chicken either British or Chinese style and serve.