Firecracker Chicken with Cilantro Rice

I love spicy dishes and that chili sauce that they serve in asian restaurants, so that seemed like a great ingredient to spice up chicken. For this dish, use either use a prepared chili oil or chili sauce or make one yourself. (Here, I made a chili sauce from sliced fresh red thai bird peppers, minced garlic, canola oil, and a bit of sesame oil. Thesesauces are usually made from dried peppers, but fresh should be fine if you use the sauce immediately.)

Using whole chicken pieces with the skin on (here I used thighs), coat the meat with chili oil underneath the skin. Place the pieces in a greased baking pan, slightly oil the pieces on top of the skin and coat lightly with a blend of five-spice powder and coarse salt and black pepper. Bake as you normally would, e.g., 50-60 minutes at 360-375°F. Perhaps 10 minutes before done, moisten the skin with drippings and sprinkle with sesame seeds, and return to oven. If skin is not crispy, finish cooking under the broiler. Either serve the pieces whole, or pull the meat from the bone and tear the skin into pieces bite size pieces (as shown here.)

Serve on cilantro rice, i.e., simply white rice with torn fresh cilantro leaves mixed in after the rice is cooked, and garnish with more pepper slices.