Ingredients
2 Tbsp soft brown sugar or honey 
½ tsp crushed chillis 
Juice of ½ lime 
450ml master stock 
1 tbsp hoisin sauce 
1 large chicken  

For the Master Stock 
2 litres of chicken stock 
150ml dark soy sauce 
150ml light soy sauce 
100ml shaoxing rice wine 
2 star anise 
2 cinnamon sticks 
½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns 
1 heaped tbsp rock sugar 
2 pieces tangerine peel or 2 tbsp tangerine chips (or a couple of slices of oranges or limes) 
6 cloves 
½ tsp white peppercorns 
80g ginger 
4 spring onions 
4 garlic cloves 
1 black cardamom pod 
1 tsp sesame oil 

Method
Put all the ingredients for the master stock into a very large saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 25 minutes. The saucepan needs to be large enough for your stock and your chicken.

Meanwhile put the chicken into a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. This step is important as it pulls the impurities out of the chicken. After the 10 minutes, take out of the water carefully and rinse so no impurities are left on the chicken.

Put the chicken into the master stock, reduce the heat to low and cook for 45 minutes. You don’t want to put a lid on this but do want to keep the chicken under the liquid. I use a small saucepan to weigh it down when needed. Keep an eye on the chicken from time to time as you may need to top up with water to ensure the beef stays under the liquid. The top of the liquid should just have a little movement, it should not be boiling or simmering.

After 25 minutes turn the chicken over and cook for the remaining 20 minutes. Remove from the stock very carefully and check the chicken is cooked, either with a thermometer or checking the juices run clear. Leave to one side to rest, covered loosely with foil.

While the chicken is cooling make your sticky sauce. Put all of the rest of the ingredients into a large pot, bring to the boil and cook on medium high until it is thick-ish and a little sticky. This took me 10 minutes.

Cut your chicken into large bite sized chunks and put into your sauce. Carefully coat each piece of meat with sauce. Serve with jasmine rice and stir fried pak or bok choi.

The idea of a master stock is to make it and use it to poach with and then you keep it to re-use it again and again (think sour dough starter). The deep rich flavours will develop over time and it improves with age. After it has cooled you should strain into a container and either keep in the fridge or freeze it. For stock left in the fridge boil once a week and the freezer once a month. Just put new aromatics in the stock, bring to the boil and cook in a low heat for 10 minutes. Always boil before using when you first reuse it.