Ingredients

• 1 onion
• peeled
• finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• halved
• 20g/¾oz fresh root ginger
• peeled
• thinly sliced
• 2 long fresh red chillies
• sliced (or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes)
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
• plus extra to serve
• 1kg-1.2kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 10oz whole chicken
• 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
• 200g/7oz dried flat rice noodles
• 6 spring onions
• trimmed and thinly sliced
• 100g/3½oz beansprouts
• rinsed and drained
• 25g/1oz fresh coriander sprigs
• 1 long red chilli
• thinly sliced
• 1 lime
• cut into wedges

Directions

• Place the vegetables in the slow-cooker. Stir in the five-spice powder
• 1 litre/1¾ pints water and soy sauce until well combined.
• Cut any string from the chicken
• remove the skin by pushing your fingers between the breast meat and the skin and easing off the skin. Do the same with the legs
• snipping off any skin around the wings or leg tips with scissors.
• Place the chicken
• breast-side up
• in the slow-cooker
• pushing it down among the vegetables. Season all over with salt and pepper.
• Cover and cook on high for 4½ hours
• or until the chicken is completely cooked through and very tender.
• Drain the contents of the slow-cooker into a large bowl. Place the chicken on a chopping board and strip the meat from the carcass
• thickly slice. Cover with foil.
• Skim off the fat from the stock collected in the bowl using a large metal spoon. Pour the stock into a clean saucepan
• stir in the fish sauce and place on a gentle simmer.
• Half-fill a separate saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and cook until just tender
• stirring regularly to separate them. Drain well.
• Divide the noodles equally among 4 deep serving bowls. Top each with chicken
• spring onions
• beansprouts and coriander. Ladle over the hot stock and season with soy. Garnish with the remaining sliced chilli and lime wedges.