Simple whole chicken soup

This is my favourit winter meal, seasoning is only salt, black pepper and sesame oil but chicken does the full good job, simple but so tasty.

This is from Japanese recipe, but I believe that was also adapted from Korean recipe. 

Takes about 2.5 hours but your real work is less than 30 minutes. 

<Ingredients>
1 medium size whole chicken
1 Chinese leaf lettuce
2-3 ginger slice
2-3 Garlic cloves
5cm Leak green part
1 Tbsp sesame oil
generous amount of salt & black pepper
a lot of boiling water

few bunch of spring onion sliced for garnish
some soy sauce for serving

<Tools>
1 big pot that whole chicken can fit and has enough height
1 large and strong strainer
electric kettle helps well

<Methods>
1. Easily rinse the chicken under running water then place it in a large pot.
2. Put 2 slice of ginger - rinse the skin but not trimmed.
3. Cut about 5 cm of leak green part, peel some outside leaf if needed then rinse that under running water - green part may have some soil between leafs. Put it in the pot.
4. Pour boiling hot water in the pot from your kettle, until covering most part of the chicken in the pot. (A bit of top out is OK, just turn around the chicken in the pot during the next step)
5. Boil the chicken with high heat for about 15 min - don't worry about the scums.
6. Place strainer in your sink, drain out the pot including the chicken in to the strainer.
7. Lice the pot easily under running water, then put back the chicken into the same pot.
8. Season the chicken with salt and black pepper all over, splash 1 Tbsp sesame oil and rub the salt and black pepper into the chicken.
9. Pick the garlic from strainer, slice them and also put it in the pot. Discard the remaining ginger and leak.
10. Pour hot water in the pot again until the same level.
11. Cap it and start boiling the pot on high heat, turn it down to medium low when the soup start to get bubbling. leave it on the heat for about 2 hours. Turn over the chicken once during that 2 hours.
12. Cut the Chinese leaf lettuce: you can cut in any way but this is suggested way to keep the leafs not to disappear when you eat. Cut the green leaf part out first, cut the leaf part in 4 quarters, then slice the white part along with the growing direction in about 1 cm width; this will keep the leafs longer without melt in the pot. Keep them separated between leaf part and white part.
13. When the chicken is cooked for 2 hours, check the soup taste and adjust with some salt and black pepper if you need.
14. Now in that pot, put white part of leafs first, squeeze in between the chicken and the pot, then place the remaining green leaf part on the top of them. Cook for another 15 minutes.
15. Serve them in a large soup bowl; cut the meat out in small pieces, pour some leafs and soup too, sparkle some spring onion slices for garnish. Eat with a bit of soy sauce if you like. Served with some steamed rice, or just put them in the soup like I did in the picture.
Enjoy :-)