Braised Chicken with Ginger Scallion Dip (Cantonese Guai Shu Shu)

Dark and glossy whole chicken dunked in a soy sauce mix with meat so tender, silky, and juicy that they are one of the must-have's for Cantonese-style BBQ rice plates. If you have been to a typical Cantonese BBQ restaurant, I am sure you have had soy sauce chicken. Soy sauce chicken is utterly delicious, especially when you dip it with the ginger and scallion condiment.

3 chicken leg quarters (~ 2 lbs)
1 (2") piece ginger, skin peeled and lightly pounded)
4 cloves garlic, lightly pounded)
2 stalks scallions (cut into 2" lengths)
2 star anise
1 (2") stick cinnamon
1 dried honey dates (optional)
1 cup soy sauce
½ cup dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Chinese rose wine or Shaoxing wine
3 dashes white pepper, freshly ground
4 oz rock sugar
4 cups water

Ginger Scallion Dip:
1 oz ginger, skin peeled, pounded and finely chopped
1 scallion, cut into thin rounds
½ tsp. chicken bouillon powder
½ tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

To prepare the ginger and scallion dip, place the ginger, scallions, salt, and chicken bouillon powder into a small bowl. Heat up 2 Tbsp. of oil in a wok until it starts to smoke. Pour the oil into the small bowl and blend well. Set aside.

Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into a deep pot and bring it to boil on high heat for 15 minutes. Add the chicken quarters into the pot and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let the chicken steeped in the soy sauce mixture for a few hours to soak in the flavour. Dish out the chicken quarters, chop into pieces and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. (Soy sauce chicken is usually served cold or at room temperature.)

Cook's Notes:  Some dark soy sauce is darker than others. I used Kimlan dark soy sauce which is not that dark, so I used ½ a cup. If you have a very dark soy sauce, you should probably use less.