Schezwan Baked Chicken Recipe

For Brining Chicken:

Take chicken in a bowl, cover it completely with water, add salt and sugar to it. Mix well. Cover it tightly with some plastic wrap and chill this in fridge overnight. Nextday remove it a hour before cooking from fridge and use.

For Sauce:

• Take dry chillies and cut the top open. Remove the seeds out of it. You can just invert it and roll between your hands, the seeds just fall off.
• Now take the chillies and add it to a sauce pan. Add 1 cup of water and bring it to boil. Simmer it for 5 mins.
• By this time the chillies must have plumped up. Drain chillies. Reserve the water, you need that for grinding.
• Take the chillies in a blender add the reserved water slowly and make them into a paste. Set aside till use.
• Now heat oil in a sauce pan. Add in garlic and ginger. Fry it for couple of mins.
• Now add in the chilli paste and mix well. Now add in ketchup, soya sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Mix well.
• Simmer this sauce for 5 to 8 mins.
• Now the sauce is done. Cool this and store in a clean air tight container refrigerated.

• Preheat oven to 220 degree C.
• Drain chicken from their brine. Take chicken and make slashes in them, now pat them completely dry.
• Now arrange them in a oiled foil lined baking tray. Brush it completely with schezwan sauce. 
• Bake them for 15 mins. Now this seal the juices in the chicken.
• Now reduce the oven temp to 150 to 160 degree C.
• Now take it out, brush the chicken with sauce. Bake for 15 more mins.
• Now take it out, brush the chicken with sauce. Bake for 15 more mins. remove the tray from oven.
• Now increase the oven to 250 degree C on grill mode.
• Brush a final layer of sauce and grill it for 1 min. This creates a beautiful caramelized texture over it.
• Remove it from oven and serve.