Thai Chicken Five Spice Powder Recipe (Gai Palo)

One night I was craving for "Palo" and had no idea where to get it.  My husband always teases me that I'm a weirdo. I think about what I'm going to eat and cook for tomorrow almost every night. The next morning, I called a friend of mine and asked where to get it. Then, he asked me why didn't I make it myself. Really!??? Make this stew?? I don't think I can...He said it's simple. Go get the five-spice powder! "What the heck is the five-spice powder?" I thought to myself.

Well, from the research I found. Five-Spice powder is considered a Chinese ingredient. There is some thought that the Chinese were attempting to produce a "wonder powder" encompassing all of the five elements. The five-spice powder is supposed to have 5 flavors; sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. That makes it have a unique flavor. Interesting right? So, this stew should contain those 5 flavors! You will have to try it yourself! :) Instead of cooking in a Dutch oven pot or a regular pot, I cooked this meal in a slow cooker. The chicken is super tender and eggs, and tofu soaked up the flavor over night. It's a meal of one of a kind!

Thai Chicken Five Spice Stew (Gai Palo) on Slow Cooker
Serving: 6

1 lb of bone-in chicken thighs and wings.
4 Boiled eggs: salt water and bring to boil  for 10 mins. See below for tricks of peeling boiled eggs
1 cup of fried tofu cut in cube. You can adjust the quantity if you're a tofu lover!
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 coves of garlic. Minced
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 teaspoons of black soy sauce
1 teaspoon of white pepper. Black pepper can be substituted.
Chili pepper flake to taste
3 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil
1 handful of cilantro. Chopped. Save half for garnish.

How to Peel Boiled Eggs: After 10 mins, transfer eggs to cold water. Let it sit for a min, then peel.

Direction:
Put chicken in a big bowl and coat chicken with  Five-Spice powder. Mix well

Heat a wide deep pot to medium high. Sprikle oil and add garlic and brown for about 2-3 mins or untill brown. Place coated chicken on the pot for about 5 mins on each side or untill brown.

Add chicken stock. Then add brown sugar, soy sauce, black soy sauce, pepper, chili pepper flake. Taste it and adjust flavor as you wish. Turn the heat off. Transfer to a slow cooker.

After transferring, add eggs, tofu, and 1/4 of cilantro.

Put the lid on, and put in low mode for 6 hrs. The good part of a slow cooker is that you don't have to worry about overcook or burn it. After the time we set, it will automatically switch to auto mode.
This is what it looked like in the morning.

Serve hot wth rice. Garnish with cilantro, and now get ready to taste the 5 flavors!