Claypot Chicken Rice

I've always loved the tasty claypot rice from the street stalls in Hong Kong. Actually been craving for it. So I've been trying to replicate it at home in the past couple of months... to some limited success. :P

The rice is supposed to form a fragrant brown crispy layer around the bottom of the claypot

However, the many times I've tried cooking it, I always seemed to burn that layer. The taste and flavour of the chicken was the same, but I'm not really fond of eating burnt rice.

So as a work around, I let the rice cook on the stove top for about 15 mins, while that was cooking, pre-heat the oven to about 180C then place the marinated chicken over the semi-cooked rice, then finish the dish in the oven instead of keeping it over the stove top.

Here is the recipe...

Claypot Chicken Rice

• 2 ½ cups rice (washed and drained)
• 2 Chinese sausage (sliced diagonally)
• 1 ½ cm thick piece salted fish
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• water from the soaked mushrooms

Marinade:

• 3 chicken pieces (Thigh pieces or Drumstick - cut into 3cm wide pieces)
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 1 thumbsized piece of ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon corn flour
• 5 Chinese mushrooms (soaked, stalk removed, cut into half - water reserved)

Method:

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms with marinade and let stand for 30 minutes.
2. Put rice and the reserved water from the soaked mushrooms into a claypot, add in salted fish, cover and let simmer over a lower fire till the rice is semi-cooked. (This should take about 15 minutes)
3. Pre-heat oven to 180C
4. Pour the marinated chicken, mushrooms and chinese sausages over the rice
5. Cover the claypot and put into the oven
6. Leave for about 15-20 mins until the chicken is cooked.
7. Serve by drizzling the dark soy sauce over the chicken.

If you like the extra bit of semi-burnt rice, then put the claypot back on top of the stove and keep it on low heat for about 3 mins.

Chicken Mushroom & Dried Scallop Rice

This is another one of my grandma's dishes, which I have adapted into one of my a so-called 'one pot' meals.

Its pretty much just throwing everything together to be cooked in the rice pot. So instead of plain old steam rice served with separate dishes. The dish is incorporated into the steam rice. The result is a bit like chinese fried rice, except the method calls for steaming with some fresh rice. Therefore, it is also a lot less oily than fried rice. Also Chinese fried rice is best made with leftover rice that has been sitting in the fridge overnight.

Chicken Mushroom & Dried Scallop Rice
Adapted from a Recipe originating from my grandma

• 3 cups of white rice
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 4 dried scallops (soaked overnight - water reserved)
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked overnight - chopped - water reserved)
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• thumbsized piece ginger (smashed)
• 300g chicken mince
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon chinese rice wine

Method:

1. Wash the rice until the water runs clear.
2. Using a fork, break up the dried scallops. Add scallops and the reserved water into the rice. If needed, fill the rice cooker with water to the required amount to cook 3 cups of rice.
3. Add in the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir the rice around, so that there is an even spread of scallops around the rice. Start the rice cooker. When the rice is nearly ready...
4. Heat the oil in a pan and add in the ginger. Once you start to smell the ginger, add in chopped mushrooms and the chicken mince.
5. Add in the seasonings - salt, soy sauce, sugar, wine and oyster sauce.
6. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of the reserved mushroom water. Enough so that the chicken doesn't dry out too much as it cooks.
7. Stirfry the contents around until the chicken mince has just cooked. Discard the ginger piece.
8. Open the rice cooker and pour in the contents of the pan and mix everything into the rice.
9. Close the lid of the rice cooker and let the contents sit for at least 30 mins on the 'keep warm' setting.

Notes:

• 3 cups of rice is enough for 3 very hungry people or about 5 'normal eating' people
• Taste the rice. If its a bit too bland, drizzle a bit of light soy sauce over the rice and mix well before serving.
• The ginger is optional, and is used to fragrant the oil and the other ingredients during the stir frying process.