Cantonese Cuisine · FFET10292
Claypot rice
Cantonese rice cooked in a pot with chicken or Chinese sausage and a crisp crust at the bottom.
A round white porcelain plate holds white jasmine rice with golden crust, boneless chicken thigh and brown dried shiitake in glossy brown sauce, plus ginger and green scallion, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, prized for live, fresh ingredients and light flavours.
Claypot rice is rice cooked in a pot with toppings such as chicken and Chinese sausage, with a crisp crust at the bottom and sweet soy sauce on top. It is a dish of Guangdong and Hong Kong, with the Cantonese version common in the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong. The available material gives no date, so this entry does not say when it began.
What
Claypot rice is rice cooked in a pot together with toppings such as chicken, Chinese sausage and vegetables. It is made in a clay or metal pot over charcoal or an open fire; a crisp crust forms on the bottom, and sweet soy sauce is drizzled over it when served.1,2
When
No dated text was found, so this entry leaves the creator, origin date and years of sale unspecified. Claypot rice was once a winter food sold at Hong Kong open-air food stalls, including those on Temple Street.1,2
Where
Claypot rice is a dish of Guangdong and Hong Kong, with the Cantonese version common in the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong. The dish is eaten across southern China and in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia; Guangxi, Guiyang, Lijiang, Japan, Korea and Vietnam also have their own pot rices.1,2
How
The rice is soaked or part-cooked and then finished in the pot, with chicken, Chinese sausage and vegetables as common toppings. In 3 published recipes, it is cooked on a stove rather than over charcoal: one soaks the rice for 25 minutes, one coats it in oil beforehand and one toasts it in oil beforehand. Each then finishes it over low heat until a crust forms on the bottom, with cooking times varying by recipe.2,3,4,5
Why
Claypot rice was once a winter food; cooking it on a charcoal stove takes 30 to 45 minutes of waiting.1,2
Impact and influence
The dish is eaten across southern China and in Chinese communities in Southeast Asia.2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler version I make at home, on a stove in a small pot with a lid and no charcoal, so the crust and the smoky flavor do not match a restaurant's. The ratio of one cup of rice to one cup of stock, soaking the rice for 25 minutes, and simmering for 3 minutes before going to the lowest heat for about 25 minutes all follow the earlier signed recipe; marinating the chicken for 30 minutes agrees between that one and the later one, which comes from a Hong Kong cookbook. The amounts of soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine and sugar are my own choices at home, and I leave out the dried lily flowers and wood ear. Listening for crackling at the bottom of the pot to tell that the crust is forming is borrowed from a third recipe, from the food section of an Australian broadcaster. The conversions from cups and ounces to grams and milliliters are mine.
Ingredients
- Jasmine rice about 190 g (1 US cup)
- Chicken stock or water 240 ml (1 US cup)
- Boneless chicken thigh about 225 g, cut into pieces of about 1.5 cm
- Dried shiitake mushrooms 6
- Ginger 4 slices, cut into thin strips
- Scallions 2, chopped
- Light soy sauce, for the marinade 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Oyster sauce, for the marinade 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Cooking wine, for the marinade 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Salt a small pinch
- Cooking oil 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Light soy sauce, for drizzling 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
- Sugar, for drizzling half a teaspoon
Steps
- Soak the dried mushrooms in water until soft, about 2 hours in the earlier recipe, then squeeze them dry and slice them.
- Mix the chicken with the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, mushroom slices and half of the ginger, and leave it for 30 minutes.
- Rinse the rice, soak it in water for 25 minutes and drain it.
- Grease the pot with the oil, add the drained rice, the 240 ml of stock and the pinch of salt, spread the marinated chicken and mushrooms on top, scatter on the rest of the ginger, cover, and simmer over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Turn to the lowest heat and keep it covered for about 25 minutes. I try not to lift the lid during this time.
- When the time is up I cut open the thickest piece of chicken: it is done when no pink is left inside, and if it is still pink I cover the pot and give it a few more minutes. I also listen for a faint crackle from the bottom of the pot, which tells me the crust is forming.
- Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for 5 minutes. Stir 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce with half a teaspoon of sugar, drizzle it over the rice, scatter the scallions on top, and serve hot, scraping up the crust to mix in as you eat.
Tips
- The bottom scorches easily over higher heat, so I always use the lowest heat for the long simmer; this is my own experience.
- At home I use a small pot with a lid, and if I have no claypot I use a heavy, tight-lidded small pot instead.
Allergens: soy, wheat, shellfish