Chinese Style Roast Chicken

If you have a hankering for some Chinese food without heading to the local takeaway, this Chinese Style Roast Chicken is an all-round winner and makes a great change to a Sunday roast dinner.

You can serve with noodles, rice or some stir fried or steamed vegetables but I implore you to drizzle over the 'gravy' or chicken cooking juices left in the pan as they are simply packed full of flavour and utterly delicious.

Like most marinades, the flavour will intensify if you leave for a few hours, or overnight - however this works well too, if you impulsively decide to make the chicken and just throw it all together and on the bird before throwing into the oven; great for spur of the moment cooks like me.

The below is enough for a family of four for dinner and a couple of packed lunches the next day.

Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Here’s how:

• 1 large chicken
• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4cm piece of ginger
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Chinese Five Spice
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Firstly turn the oven on to 200 degrees.

To prepare the marinade, peel and mince the garlic and add to a small bowl. Now peel the ginger, and either grate into the bowl or very finely slice and dice into tiny shards and add to the bowl.

Zest the limes into the bowl, then half them and squeeze in the juice, keeping the halved limes to one side.

Add the honey, soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sesame oil and Chinese five spice and give the marinade a stir.

Now take the chicken and using a sharp knife remove the legs and the wings and place ninto a roasting tin with the entire breast or crown of the chicken.

Pour the marinade over the whole chicken ensuring all of the skin gets a good coating. Now take the discarded lime halves and push them inside the chicken breast cavity.

Place the entire tin into the oven and roast at 200 degrees for 20 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and continue to roast for a further 40 minutes.

Every 10-15 minutes, remove the dish from the pan, and carefull baste with the juices in the pan. I use an oven glove to carefully tilt the dish and use a serving spoon to lift out the tin juices and pour over. This will help to keep the chicken moist and juicy.

After 60 minutes in the oven, remove and place on the hob and check to see if the chicken is cooked through. Use a fork or a skewer to pierce the chicken in both the thickest part of the breast and the thickest part of the leg; and as long as the juices run clear this is cooked.

The important thing now is to baste one last time with the juices in the pan, then carefully take out the chicken and place onto a plate and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.

Also do not waste the chicken juices left at the bottom of the pan - whatever you are serving alongside the chicken, should be drizzled in this as it is packed full of flavour.

The gravy that must be used from Chinese Style Roast Chicken

Once fully rested, take each piece of chicken onto a board with a fork and a carving knife, carve into small slithers of delicious, juicy chicken. Try to ensure that each piece has a little of the skin for extra flavour. Once you have carved all you can, now grab another fork and use the two to pull off any remaining bits of chicken from the breast or leg bones and gently shred.

Serve with your choice of rice, noodles or vegetables. Enjoy!