This Chinese recipe is one of my Dad’s. We always call it BBQ Chicken because the idea was that you marinate the chicken then cook it on the barbecue. Inevitably, the English climate dictated that he adapt it to be roasted in the oven – either that or stand by the BBQ holding an umbrella.

Salty with dark soy sauce, fragrant with the distinctive Chinese Five flower spice, warmed with garlic and sticky with a little sugar, this marinade is simple but incredibly effective in delivering extra flavour to chicken. What a reward for such minimal effort.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a dish large enough to house the chicken pieces. Oil, dark soy, five flower spice, sugar and crushed garlic.

Add your chicken pieces (I used 3 drumsticks and 2 thighs, but there was enough marinade for a couple more of each) to the marinade and coat well. Cover and allow them to marinade for as long as you have – 30 mins in a pinch, 2 hours if you can.

Preheat the oven to GM6/200C/400F.

Put the chicken pieces (I use drumsticks and thighs) in a roasting tin – spoon residual marinade over them – and roast them initially for around 25 mins. In they go…

You can turn the drumsticks over halfway through if you like.

Check after 25 mins that they are cooked through or nearly there. If you like the skin crispy, increase the oven temperature to a good GM7 for another 10 mins.

Serve with Jersey potatoes and a lovely salad. Delicious.

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Chinese BBQ Chicken

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2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp dark soy sauce (I wouldn’t use light soy sauce for this – you want the syrup quality of dark and it’s less salty than the light)
1 tsp five flower spice
1 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed

up to 5 chicken drumsticks and 4 thighs – if in doubt, just double the marinade quantity

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a dish large enough to house the quantity of chicken you are using (alternatively, put the lot in a large freezer bag).
Marinade the chicken for 30 mins-2 hours.

Place the chicken pieces on the BBQ until cooked through or put in a roasting tin and roast at GM6/200C/400F for 25 mins, then increase the oven temperature to GM7 for another 10 mins to crisp the skin a little.
Check that the chicken is cooked through to the bone, then serve with new potatoes and salad.

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