Dapanji (Uyghur Big Plate Chicken)

Another one for the journal: Link

We have been addicted to braised chicken dishes for a number of days now. We've made so many different variations that for the life of us (or moreso, me), we couldn't remember if we made this chicken dish before. There are many iterations of it online, we vaguely recall making chinese cooking demystified version...? But no one could confirm! Anyway, if we did, then all I can say about that recipe is that it was unmemorable (dun..dun..dun!!!!) 

Anyway, moving on, I found a video recipe and decided to give it another shot. It was all in mandarin so CC wasn't too helpful in the command center so he was the designated rice cooker (using a rice cooker) and potato peeler (using a potato peeler)! Haha.

Notes: 

• Added just a dash of lao gan ma chili oil to spice it up (1/2 Tbsp or so). 
• Given we didn't have some of the spices they used in the video, we subbed with the spice ratio from chinese cooking demystified. Worked out to 2 star anise, 1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick essentially. 
• It's ok if it tastes a little saltier before you add the potatoes because the potatoes will soak up some of the salt and it will be balanced. 
• Didn't cook the caramel color separately but still utilized the oils from the chicken to cook it instead directly in the pot at the time when they added the caramel color. 1tbsp sugar was good for us as we prefer a more savory dish. 

Proof of how good this was: The big plate was wiped cleaned!