Claypot Chicken Rice

Claypot chicken rice is popular in many Asian countries, for example: Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, but I’ve always cheated with a rice cooker when making it at home.

I’m so glad that Danielle of Bon Vivant—a gorgeous food blog with great writing, mouthwatering recipes and food photography—is sharing her claypot chicken rice recipe with us.

Danielle is a Singaporean who lives in the bay area; I applaud her dedication and patience in preparing this claypot chicken rice. Check out her wonderful guest post below and don’t forget to hop over to Bon Vivant for more awesomeness. I

I’m very certain that you will like what you see on Bon Vivant!

There are so many wonderful ways to cook a meal these days—from the blink of a microwave to the meditative warmth of braising in an oven. Despite the array of ‘modern’ gadgets like the slow cooker, pressure cooker and the microwave, I must profess that I’m decidedly old school in owning none of these.

On the contrary, I actually enjoy the waiting (and the work) involved with the slow cooking process. It’s like having front-row seats at the Evolution of Dinner; you’re witnessing the transformation of food from it’s raw, organic state into one capable of bringing you to gustatory heaven.

When I started cooking for myself, I appreciated the “quick weeknight” recipes found in the pages of any magazine. These were functional, utilitarian meals designed to satisfy hunger and send me off to bed for a good night’s rest.

What I really looked forward to on the weekends though, was the time I could have to spend in the kitchen: I relished the four hours it took to transform perfectly smooth tomatoes into scabs of tomato confit and thought nothing of burying soft, plump pieces of cod in salt for a month for home-made bacalao.

I loved having to plan for a meal, sometimes weeks in advance, savoring the prelude of daily preparations before the big show…

The ultimate goal of these seemingly unnecessary, laborious processes (in the face of modern appliances), was in coaxing out the real, true flavor of whatever was being prepared.

Before I tasted my own, I tempted myself with the imagination, envisioning what the final dish would be like, aided by Thomas Keller’s poetic prose and suchlike.

After the meal, the memory would linger, along with a satisfaction deepened by the knowledge that it was a meal that I felt I had truly worked for, in a manner so tangible, concrete and worlds apart from the conventional notion of ‘work’ that we subject ourselves to everyday.

So, in a tribute to slow-cooking and the primal, mouth-watering reactions borne out of wrestling with taunting aromas on an empty stomach, here’s a classic Chinese claypot dish, just the way my mother prepares it.

It’s a breeze to put together and tastes absolutely delicious, but you’ll have to give it time, over low heat, to get there. Although traditionally cooked over a short and stocky charcoal stove and monitored with a hawk’s eye, you could also use a deep cast-iron pot over the stove or the always reliable rice cooker to do the job.

You’ll just be missing out on the spirals of smoke that work its way into the claypot to augment the heady combination of rice wine and sesame oil for a deeper complexity on the palate.

The timings in this recipe were tailored for claypot use on a gas or an electric stove, so adjust the cooking time accordingly if you’re planning to cook this over a charcoal fire.

Also, don’t fret if the ingredients at the base of the pot burn a little – these are actually the best bits of the dish, adding a satisfying crunch to every bite. You can read more about claypot cooking here and here.

What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?

For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.

Asam Pedas Fish

Asian Beef Stew

Asian Slaw

Baby Bok Choy with Shrimp

Yield: 4 people

Claypot Chicken Rice

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Claypot Chicken Rice - chicken, cornstarch, Chinese rice wine, sesame oil.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 1 pound (450 g/15 oz.) chicken meat, from the thighs or breast, deboned and sliced into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 teaspoons Chinese rice wine
• 3 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 pinch salt

Claypot rice:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 piece (2 inch) ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 oz. (28 g) dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water and sliced
• 2 oz. (56 g) dried Chinese sausage, Lap Cheong, sliced
• 10 oz. (280 g) white rice, rinsed in cold water until the water runs clear and drained
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• ¾ cup water, at room temperature
• 5 oz. (140 g) leafy green vegetables like bok choy, gai choy, dou miao or spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

For the chicken:

1. Whisk the cornstarch, rice wine, sesame oil and salt in a bowl, then pour it over the chicken pieces, mixing well to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Claypot rice:

1. Heat the oil in a wok or a deep frying pan, then add the garlic and ginger, frying until fragrant. Add the marinated chicken and stir. When the meat starts to brown, add the mushrooms and chinese sausage, stirring for a minute to mix well.
2. If you're using a claypot, place it on a hob and turn the heat to low.
3. Add the rice to the wok and turn the heat to high, mixing as you go to allow the rice to fully absorb the flavor of the other ingredients. Add the light soy sauce and sesame oil to the wok and keep stirring and mixing for another 2 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and transfer the contents of the wok to the claypot. Add the water, then cover and increase the heat to medium.
5. Leave the ingredients to cook for about an hour, checking-in every 15 minutes and giving the rice a stir or two.
6. After an hour, add the vegetables, cover and turn the heat to low for 10 minutes.
7. Drizzle the dark soy sauce and sesame oil over the vegetables and serve, with the claypot as your centerpiece.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

4 people
Amount Per Serving Calories 326Total Fat 36gSaturated Fat 13gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 97mgSodium 703mgCarbohydrates 66gFiber 2gProtein 31g