Cantonese soy sauce chicken cooked in a rice cooker

Trim the loose fat off the chicken, cut it into small bits and keep it in the fridge for browning the next day.

Tie the legs together with rope, leaving a long tail. Flip the bird, bend the wings and tuck them behind the back.

Mash the ginger, crush the garlic and cut the onion into small pieces.

Smash the spring onion and stuff it into the cavity.

Mix light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and Sichuan peppercorn, then add the aromatics and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Put the chicken in a sealable bag, pour in the marinade, push out the air and seal.

Marinate in the fridge breast side down overnight.

Next day, pour everything out, pick the aromatics off the surface, lift the chicken out and keep the liquid.

Render the reserved chicken fat in the rice cooker, covered, for a few minutes until the bits are golden; lift the bits out.

Brown the chicken in the fat, about 2 minutes a side, turning it by the rope.

Pour in the reserved marinade with all the spices and 1 to 2 cups of water.

Cook 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the bird, flipping every 15 minutes for even colour and adding water if the sauce thickens too fast.

Cut out the backbone with scissors, split the bird down the middle of the chest, take off the legs and wings, halve the breast and back, then chop each part into smaller pieces.

Drain the spices from the roughly a third of a cup of sauce left in the cooker, dilute it with water to taste, and pour it over the chicken.