Happy Chinese New Year and all good fortune in the year of the rabbit. We celebrated with this simple version of a classic, super tender Chicken with a delicous sauce.

Wine Suggestion: If you feel like a white, go for a Marsanne like Andre Perret’s VdP version from the Northern Rhone. That’s what we did.

Soy sauce chicken – serves 4

• 1kg chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 4 scallions, 3 cut in half, 1 finely slice on an angle, to serve
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
• 3 star anise
• 2 bay leaves
• 240ml light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
• steamed jasmine rice and steamed greens to serve

Season the chicken with salt and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok, then add the 3 halved scallions, ginger, star anise and bay leaves. Toss for about 5 minutes until fragrant.

Pour in the light Soy Sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, 2 tbsp of the sugar and 480ml of water. Turn the heat up to hight and bring to the boil.

Slide in the chicken thighs, skin side down, in a single layer. Add more water if need to just about cover the chicken.

Turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 35 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a plate and leave until cool enough to handle, then remove the bones and slice. Arrange on a serving dish.

Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid and discard the solids. Put 150ml into a small pan and put the pan over a medium heat. Just before it boils, add the cornflower mixture and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Remove from the heat once it’s at a nice thickness (you can add a bit more of the reserved cooking liquor if it gets too thick – you want it coating the back of a spoon).

Pour the sauce over the sliced chicken and sprinkle over the sliced scallion. Serve with jasmine rice and lots of steamed greens.

(Original recipe by Thy Lundkvist in BBC Good Food Magazine, January 2022.)