Hainanese Roasted Chicken

Today's dinner I'm cooking Hainanese Roasted Chicken Rice. Since hubby bought a whole piece of chicken yesterday at Jason's Market, he asked me to cook chicken rice again but this time I wanted to do roasted chicken. It's my 1st time doing roasted chicken rice.

Ingredients:
1 Chicken (Whole) – gutted and cleaned with neck and feet removed

1 Tsp of Honey

1 Tsp of Maltose

1/2 Tsp of Molasses

1/2 Tsp of Five-spice powder

Few dashes of Ground white pepper

1 Tbsp of Ginger juice

2 Tbsp of Light soy sauce

2 Spring onion stalks

5-6 slices of Ginger (5mm thick)

A handful of Kosher or any coarse Salt – for exfoliating the Chicken

Directions:

1. Trim off any excess fat and skin from the chicken and keep it aside (this will be used for the rice in Step 2). The next thing to do is to” exfoliate“! Exfoliating the chicken helps remove any trapped dirt or yucky stuff off the skin. Grab a handful of coarse or kosher salt and start rubbing all over the skin but at the same time being careful not to tear or damage the skin. You should see a smooth clean skin once completed. The next step is to give your chicken a workout! There is a theory that when most chickens are “killed“, their muscles tend to tense up and constrict. By giving the legs and wings gentle pulls and stretches, it should ease the muscle tension and thus giving you a more juicy and tender soft flesh at the end.
2. Combine the Honey, Maltose, and Molasses, Five-spice powder, White pepper, ginger juice, and light soy sauce in a bowl. Stir to mix the marinade and generously rub all over the chicken including the cavity. Stuff the Spring onions and Ginger slices into the cavity. Tie the two legs together with kitchen twine to help cover the cavity. Leave the marinated chicken to air dry in the refrigerator for at least 6-8 hours or overnight.
3. Take the chicken out 30-45 mins before roasting to allow it to reach room temperature. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. When the oven is hot enough, turn it down to 200 degrees Celsius and place the roasting pan with chicken into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius and roast for a further 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken) until the skin is crisp and dark brown in color. Once done, take the chicken out to rest before cutting into pieces.