Soy Sauce Roasted Chicken

I made this dish because the taste of Great NY Noodletown's soy sauce chicken is still in my mouth. I went there a few weeks ago with some friends and ate until my top jeans button popped. If you've ever been to Noodletown, you will understand this feeling of gluttony. And you will know how hard it is to get rid of that taste of soy sauce chicken! Don't get me wrong: there are a dozen other dishes to try, such as the whole duck or the roasted pork, but I didn't expect the soy sauce chicken to be so darn tasty. I've become obsessed with it, checking my local restaurants to see if they make something similar. No such luck. 
So after consulting my taste buds and memory, I've tried to reconstruct a version of it. I hope that I got it right.

Soy Sauce Roasted (Whole) Chicken

Ingredients
1 whole roasting chicken

Simmer/basting sauce
4 cups water
8 crushed cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 cups soy sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Scallion dipping sauce
1 cup chopped scallions
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar



Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all simmering/basting sauce ingredients in a large pot and boil. Lower heat to simmer and add whole chicken, breast side down, carefully to the pot. Simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer chicken, breast side up, to a roasting pan. Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce. Slowly pour the rest of the sauce  over the chicken and put in oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste 30 minutes before turning oven off. Take chicken out of oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.


In a sauce pan heat up the reserved simmering/basting sauce with 1 cup chicken broth and 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger. Bring to a boil and reduce liquid to about 1 cup. Turn off heat, immediately add sesame oil and rice wine vinegar, and stir. Let sauce cool. Stir in scallions and serve with chicken.

Served over broccoli and jasmine rice. 

Enjoy!