I call it 'forgiving' because you can abuse this recipe many ways--overcook it, add or subtract ingredients, add or subtract servings--and it will still give you all it's got. Make as many or as few servings as you need. Hope you enjoy!

Laurie Stacey

Soy sauce (shoyu)

Dried minced garlic

Dried red pepper flakes

Brown sugar (optional)

Preparation time: under 5 minutes. Cooking time: 1 hr 15 min.

For easy clean-up, line a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with foil (long enough to overlap on both ends to fold up and close). Spray foil with cooking spray. Arrange frozen chicken pieces in a single layer in the pan. Coat with soy sauce; it should flash-freeze into a brown glaze. Give 2 or 3 good shakes of garlic and red pepper on each chicken piece (or to taste). Crumble brown sugar on top, about 1/8 C per piece, or 1 C total. Fold foil over to loosely cover. Pop into 450-degree oven for 1 hour. Remove foil covering; turn chicken pieces over in sauce. Return to oven for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve chicken as whole pieces or cut into bite-size. Toss with sauce, cooked stir-fry vegetables (I use Pict-sweet brand BEIJING vegetables) and hot rice. This is good with or without brown sugar; if you use it, be sure to watch cooking times; after 1 1/2 hours, the sugar will bubble and caramelize--still good, but it won't mix with the rice.

   1] Skewers: marinate chicken in sauce 8 hours, then thread onto skewers with chunk pineapple, green peppers and onion chunks; cook under broiler for 6 min per side or until done

    3] Polynesian style: add fresh ginger (or dried); before cooking, add chunk pineapple, green peppers, onion chunks to pan

    5] Lickin' Chicken: Use bone-in chicken thighs/legs/wings/drumettes