Prepare chicken. Remove giblets. Remove excess fat if necessary. Wash inside out if you choose to (sanitize the sink after). Cut off wing tips (optional) If you are not using rotisserie, you can also twist the neck into the neck opening so it plugs the whole to prevent stuffing from coming out.
Brine chicken (optional)
Brining chicken will result in tender and flavorful chicken especially for white meat but it's optional.
Make brine solution and immerse chicken breast side down in the solution.
Brine for 12 hours (you can do less but you may want to add more salt to the rub)
Prepare rice stuffing
Wash sweet rice 3 times thoroughly while rubbing with hands.
Drain water.
Prepare equal amount of water as the sweet rice. Add salt and dissolve it completely.
Add desired add ons such as dates, chestnuts, ginkgos but this is optional.
Cook in a rice cooker. If you are using a regular pot, add 1 TBS more water per one cup of rice. Bring to boil on medium to high heat with lid on, as SOON as it come to boil (it will burn if you don't reduce heat at this point), reduce heat to low (level 1) and let it simmer with a lid on for 20 min. Don't open the lid in the middle.
As soon as rice is done cooking. Flip around in a large bowl and cool it down so it's ok to touch with hands.
Shape the rice into oval balls just to make it easy to stuff the chicken.
Preheat oven or grill at 350 F.
Stuff chicken
Take chicken out of brine (if you chose to brine the chicken).
Pat-dry inside out.
Add sliced garlic inside the chicken (optional).
Stuff chicken with rice balls.
Truss chicken. Tie the legs to secure the stuffing. If you are doing rotisserie, you also want to tie legs and wings so they stay tight and close to the body.
Mix seasoning rub ingredients together.
Coat chicken with olive oil.
Coat with seasoning rub.
Cook chicken. Depending on the size it may take 2.5 hours or more until it reaches the internal temperature of 158F (we're aiming for 165F at the end but taking out earlier because we're going to cook further with cheese later). If the skin is browning to much, cover the parts with foil.
Make sauce
Mix all sauce ingredients and let it simmer on low heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. It's best to use non-stick pot.
Julienne green onion finely and rinse in cold water and drain for garnish later.
Finish up
Cut the breast side of chicken in half with scissors (spatchcock). Spread the rice flat on the chicken on the flesh side.
Preheat a large non-stock pan or griddle on medium heat.
Add olive oil and butter.
Put the spatchcocked chicken rice side down.
Cook until the rice is golden brown and crispy at the bottom. You can press down on the chicken to help rice cook.
Sprinkle cheese on top of chicken and melt the cheese in the oven.