claypot chicken rice

I like to eat claypot chicken rice. In particular, I enjoy eating the burnt part of the rice, which is found at the bottom of the claypot.

Claypot chicken rice is a common dish found in Singapore and Malaysia and is usually served with Chinese sausages, dried mushrooms, salted fish (which enhances the taste of the dish) and vegetables and drizzled with dark soya sauce. Traditional claypot chicken rice is such that the rice is cooked in the claypot first and cooked ingredients like diced chicken and chinese sausage are added in later.

If the cooking is done over a charcoal stove, the dish has a beautiful aroma. However, it would take about 15 to 30 minutes to cook the dish.

Nowadays, many hawkers will simply do the cooking over a gas stove. I have also come across claypot chicken rice where the rice is pre-cooked in a rice cooker and as such, the cooked rice and ingredients are added to the claypot before the claypot is either heated over a gas stove or a microwave oven.

There is a restaurant called "Uncle Sam's Claypots" near my office. As Da and I had not eaten there for several years, we decided to have our lunch there.

I ordered the claypot boneless chicken rice. I was very pleased to discover burnt rice at the bottom of the claypot. :)

Da ordered the claypot beef rice. The slices of beef were very tender.

When you buy a claypot for home-use, it is important to test the claypot before using it. What you will need to do is to fill the claypot with water and place the claypot on top of a piece of dry cloth. Leave the claypot to rest overnight. The next morning, if you find that the cloth is wet, it means that the claypot has not been made properly and is leaking. Such a claypot should not be used.

It is not easy to buy a good claypot. Many claypots are made abroad and in the course of the import from abroad, the claypot may have received knocks and as such, there may be cracks in the claypot that may not be visible to the naked eye. As such, it is therefore important to test the claypot before using it (using the method in the paragraph above).

There used to be a stall in the corner coffee shop located along Jalan Tua Kong that sells chinese cooked food and in particular, aromatic chicken claypot rice. As there is always a large crowd at the coffee shop at night, the waiting time is quite long. Also, the chef cooks the rice in the claypot and as such, one has to wait about 30 minutes before one gets to enjoy the claypot chicken rice. Unfortunately, the couple that operated the stall decided to call it a day after many years. Such a pity!

Here is a simple recipe for home-made claypot chicken rice.

Ingredients

2 cups rice (washed and drained)

3 cups chicken stock

2 chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized pieces)

5 Chinese dried mushrooms (soaked and cut into half)

1 knob ginger (sliced thinly)

1 Chinese sausage (sliced)

salted fish (sliced thinly and fried till crispy)

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

4 tbsp garlic oil

Marinade

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp Hua Tao wine (ie. Chinese cooking wine)

1 tsp of ginger juice

1 tbsp sesame oil

½ tsp grated black peppercorn

1/2 tsp grated white peppercorn

½ tsp sugar

½ tbsp corn flour

Garnishing

Spring onion (chopped)

any green leafy vegetables of your choice (blanched)

Method:

1. Mix chicken, dried mushrooms and sliced ginger with marinade and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

2. Put rice and chicken stock into a claypot, cover and bring to boil lower fire and cook with low heat for about 15 minutes till holes are formed on top.

3. Spread marinated chicken, dried mushrooms and Chinese sausage on top, cover and cook with low heat for about 15 minutes till the rice is dry and the chicken pieces are cooked.

4. Remove from the fire and sprinkle salted fish on top, cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy.

5. Before serving, add the green leafy vegetables and sprinkle spring onion, black soya sauce and garlic oil, mix in to combine toppings and rice.

Tips

1. You can buy ginger juice from the supermarket. Alternatively, to make your own ginger juice, grate a knob of ginger and squeeze out the juice.

2. To make garlic oil, simply chop some garlic and fry with more oil than you would normally use to fry garlic.