Prep time: 40min
Cooking time: 40min
Servings: About 6

Chicken and marinade

1. Chicken thighs, bone-in, skinless x 6

2. Dark soy sauce x 2 tsp

3. Light soy sauce x 1 tsp

4. Maple syrup x 2 tsp

5. Oyster sauce x 1 tsp

6. Pepper x a few shakes

Other ingredients

7. Taupok (tofu puffs) (small) x 24

8. Hard boiled egg x 6

9. Kecap manis x 2 tbsp

10. Dark soy sauce x 2 tbsp

11. Light soy sauce 2 tbsp

12. Pepper x 5 shakes

13. Garlic cloves x 10, peeled and smashed

14. Cinnamon stick x 4

15. Star anise x 5 stars

16. Clove x 7 pieces

17. Ginger x 7 slices

18. Five spice powder x 2 tsp

19. Maple syrup x 1 tbsp

20. Onion x 1, sliced

21. Swanson's chicken stock x 700ml

22. Water x 700ml

23. Corn flour x 5 tbsp

24. Optional: Chopped Chinese parsley for garnish

1. Marinate the chicken overnight or for at least 6 hours.

2. Boil and peel eggs.

3. Prepare the taupok.

   • Put boiling water in a bowl and press the taupok inside the hot water.

   • Transfer the taupok into a bowl of room temperature water (tap water) and press the taupok inside once more.

   • Finally, press out the water and transfer into a clean, dry bowl.

   • This is done to get rid of the oil inside the taupok so that the gravy will not be so oily, and also in case the oil used to fry the taupok was not very fresh.

4. Set the pressure cooker to "Saute/Sear", 8 minutes. Put 2 tsp sesame oil in it and stir-fry the onions until half-translucent, then add garlic, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves and ginger. Stir-fry until fragrant, about 30s to 1 minute.

   • You can also do this in a regular braising pot if you don't want to use a pressure cooker.

   • If you're not using a pressure cooker, then please budget for 2-3 hours of cooking time.

5. Cancel the "Saute/Sear" programme.

6. Add the chicken and all other ingredients except the corn starch and Chinese parsley.

7. Select the "Chicken/Duck" setting, 25 minutes.

   • If you are not using a pressure cooker, bring to a rolling boil, then braise on low heat for 2-3 hours, until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender.

   • You will need to watch the pot, stir constantly and add more water as it evaporates. If you do not do so, your sauce will burn.

8. Mix 5 tbsp corn flour with 5 tbsp of water to form a slurry.

   • Pot braising tends to thicken the sauce on its own, so add corn flour 1 tbsp at a time (in slurry form) until it has thickened to your liking.

   • My family elders used to braise this over the stove for hours and hours, until they didn't even need corn starch at all!

9. Select "Sauce thickening" on the pressure cooker, 5 minutes. When the contents in the pot start to bubble, add the corn starch slurry and mix well immediately.

10. Boil for about 1-2 minutes until the corn flour is fully cooked, then cancel the sauce thickening programme.

11. Optional: Garnish with Chinese parsley.

12. Serve hot with rice. Enjoy!

• This recipe has a lot of gravy, because the point of this is to have the rice positively swimming in the gravy. When you eat this dish outside, I find they don't give you nearly enough gravy. ;p If this is too much gravy for you, reduce the liquids accordingly, and also reduce the seasonings as well. E.g. if you reduce the liquid by half, reduce the seasoning by half as well.

• You can put other ingredients inside this as well - tau kwa (firm tofu), tau kee (beancurd sheets) and soaked dried mushrooms are popular choices to add to this dish.