Foodie

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Clay Pot Chicken Rice

This dish desirably is cooked in a clay pot on charcoal stove as the rice will form a brown , crispy layer at the bottom of clay pot, thus making the rice more fragrant. Nowadays in a modern kitchen, this is not possible but a rice cooker makes a decent pot of rice.

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Ingredients:

2 cups rice, washed and drained
3 cups chicken stock
2 chicken drumsticks cut into pieces (bone in chicken pieces can also be used)
5 Chinese mushrooms, soaked, cut into half
1 Chinese sausage, sliced
1 ½ cm thick salted fish, sliced thinly, fried till crispy
1 tbsp black soya sauce
4 tbsp garlic oil

Marinade:

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp of ginger juice (grated a knob of ginger and squeeze)
1 tbsp sesame oil
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
½ tbsp corn flour


Garnishing:

Spring onion chopped

Method:

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms with marinade and ginger, season for 30 minutes.

2. Put rice and chicken stock into a clay pot, cover and bring to boil lower fire and cook with low heat till holes are formed on top. (About 15 minutes)

3. Spread marinated chickens and mushrooms, Chinese sausage on top, cover and cook with low heat till rice is dry and chicken pieces are cooked (another 15 minutes). Remove from fire.

4. Sprinkle salted fish on top, cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy.

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






Serves

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

visited your site last week and decided to try this clay Pot Chicken Rice yesterday. it was such a hit! did not cook it in a claypot nor in a rice cooker but in a regular aluminum pot... turned out well too. thanks again.

Chrystal said...

I LOVE CLAY POT DISHES!!!.. Let me go out and buy a claypot sin ^_^

littlewoozie said...

Hi, I found your blog a few days ago and am so impressed by your cooking!

For this recipie, how do I modify it to cook in a rice cooker?

Also, is it worth while to invest in a claypot? What kind should I get?

Unknown said...

littlewoozie

just replace the claypot with the rice cooker but watch out and put in the chicken into the rice before the cook button is turned off, otherwise there will not be enough heat to cook the chicken.

you could cook the chicken first in the microwave for 4 - 5 minutes and then put into the rice.

Anonymous said...

Auntie,

I looked around different websites for recipes and yours is the best one! The others recommend cooking the chicken separate but by cooking it with the rice, it gently steams the chicken so it comes out really, really tender!

JK said...

Dear Lily

I tried this recipe yesterday and loved it - the chicken came out tender and very delicious.

However, the rice was rather soft. How do I prevent that the next time?

FYI, I did this yesterday:

(1) already lessened the amount of water/stock to cook rice.

(2) poured the excess chicken marinade into the rice when I added the chicken.

Maybe I shouldn't have done (2) above. However it really made the rice taste very good.

Should I have poured the chicken marinade together with the chicken stock when starting to cook the rice instead of when adding the chicken? or should I just forget about adding the marinade?

Looking forward to your advise.

Tks
Jasmine

Unknown said...

jasmine

your jasmine rice could be from 'new crop' which needs less water to cook.

the cornstarch present in the recipe will dry out the marinate by coating the chicken pieces.

There were times when i did not pay attention to the cooking of the rice and the heat in the rice was not hot enough to cook the meat, then, i would cook the chicken and the marinade in the microwave until cooked, then put them on top of the cooked rice.

JK said...

Dear Lily

Thanks for the reply.

However, can we add the marinade together with the stock to cook the rice.

Alternatively, can we add the marinade to water to cook the rice? Having to boil the stock is quite troublesome.

Further, I forgot to mention that after cooking the rice, my claypot was badly burnt and I am still having a hard time trying to get rid of the burns even after several days of soaking in hot water and detergent. Can you give me some tips to clean up the burn?

Tks
Jasmine

JK said...

Hi Lily

Could you reply to my questions above?

FYI-I bought another claypot and tried your recipe again. Again it burnt the bottom of the claypot.
How do I avoid this the next time I try this recipe?Your recipe is simply delicious and I do want to try it again - without having to spoil the claypots everytime I do.

More importantly, how do I get rid of the burns? Some kitchen tips say that I can boil water and detergent in the pot till the burns come off. Is this OK with claypots? Will the detergent be "absorbed" by the pot and leach on to the food next time I cook in the pot again? I have small children in the house and do want to be more careful about this.

Really look forward to your reply.

Tks
Jasmine

Unknown said...

jasmine

the best part of this dish is at the bottom of the claypot but of course not too burnt. The claypot is used to get the'farn chew' at the bottom.

To avoid getting the bottom too burnt, is to cook on the lowest fire available and just enough time to cook the rice and meat.

you could put the claypot in a preheated 250 f oven for 10 - 15 minutes to finish the cooking and this way, it will prevent burning at the bottom.

Since claypots are porous, detergent might seep through and leave an aftertaste in future

Anonymous said...

Lily,

In your recipe you use "light soy sauce", "dark light soy sauce" in the marinade but "black soya sauce" just before serving.

1) Are you referring to a specific brand or type of soy sauce when you refer to the "black soya sauce"?

2) What is the consistency and how does it differ from dark and light soy sauces?

3) We ran out of liquid making this dish. Do you add the liquid from the marinade to the pot before cooking? (this question was also asked above)

According to a summer 2000 article for Flavor and Fortune Magazine, it defines 'black soy sauce' as follows: "Also known as dark soy sauce, this type is made from soybeans, caramel, sugar, wheat, salt, and water. It has both a salty and a slightly sweet taste. It is used as a dipping sauce and in cooking, often mixed with this, also called light soy sauce."

Unknown said...

spire

in malaysia there are only 2 types of soya sauce - light or dark/black but in the states, dark soya sauce is darker than light and is has the same consistency. The black is actually thick and very caramel.

you do not have to use chicken stock to cook the rice, plain water will do.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,
Need your advice. I bought chicken breasts (about 360g) and marinated them overnight. I pan fried a small piece to try this morn as the marinade smelt so good. It was very salty. I am very careful with my measurements. Should I have just marinated it for 30 mins only? I think I will wash the chicken to remove some of the marinade so it will be less salty. Please advise. Also, if I use water instead of chicken stock to cook the rice, would it affect the taste? I like claypot rice very much and would love to learn to get it done correctly. Thank you Lily :-))

Unknown said...

sparky1971

There are so many types of soya sauce/oyster sauce in the market and their strength of saltiness differs. you should know the brand you are using and adjust the taste instead of following the recipe. to reduced a too salty marinate, a LITTLE sugar or vinegar might help.

the rice cooked with water will not be as tasty and will be more bland, so adjust taste before serving

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily, Gong Xi Fa Cai! It's been a blessing to hv found your website.Your claypot chicken rice looks very delicious! Can't wait to experiment myself.

I only started cooking for a few months , so still not good in cooking...:)

I've not been eating claypot chicken rice for a year! which is also my favourite!!

I have a question:
Can i use the KNORR chicken falvour BOUILLON cube to make the chicken stock?
If yes, how many cubes should i use to produce the 3 cups of the chicken stock?

Thank you so much Lily!

Unknown said...

wendy

happy new year to you and family too.

just use 1 cube will do and the rice can be cooked in the rice cooker and it will just as delicious

wendy said...

ohmygawd!! LILY!!! I've done it today!! It's damn delicious!!!! ;O)And i ended up using the chicken stock which i cooked fr the bones of the deboned chicken. Thanks so much for the generosity in sharing!

Kingy said...

Hi Lily! I tried this recipe yesterday and it turned out very well although i burnt the rice at the bottom a tad too much! In fact there is now a hairline crack at the bottom of my claypot, do you think it can still be used for cooking?

Unknown said...

kingy

the only way to tell if the pot is leaking, is to fill it with water and wait. watch for drippings, if no drippings, then the crack is minor.

fJ said...

I'm a guy who loves to cook. As soon as I saw this recipe, I wanted to try it right away (despite the time being around 2am in the morning). Cooking became an interest when I had to cook my own food because of the high cost of living in KL especially for a Limkokwing University art student like me (the university loves bloodsucking students). I recently bought an 8 inch clay pot that costs about 10 Ringgit. Does the quality of the clay pot affects the taste of the chicken rice? Thanks again for your recipe aunt Lily.

Unknown said...

fenson jeremy

i am very proud of you that you are able to cook.

cooking rice in a claypot would be like cooking rice in a saucepan over the stove except that in the claypot, the rice can be left to brown further over very very low fire. The brown crust is the best part of this chicken rice.

the chicken rice can be cooked in a rice cooker and it will be just as delicious

Anonymous said...

I tried out your recipe yesterday, it is so delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe :)

Camemberu said...

Thank you so much for this recipe! So simple to make and yet so delicious! I'm definitely blogging this soon!

John Orford said...

I suspect Jasmine may have solved her clay-pot problem already. However clay-pot cooking depends on soaking the pot in water for half-an-hour or so before cooking, since it's the steam that does the cooking. Rice needs less water then. It seems odd that the food is burned, so I wonder if you put the pot in dry? It must always go into a cold oven or over a very gentle fire, to avoid cracking the low-fired clay; hence the advice on using charcoal. And never, as Lily says, but never clean it with detergent; you will be eating chicken in detergent sauce for some time.

Unknown said...

john

thanks for your tips and i hope jasmine will read your comment.

For your info, in asia, oven is not popular for cooking and i think the locals made the claypots to be cooked over the fire and not on high heat though.

JK said...

Dear John

Thank you for your comments. Really appreciate it.

One question:
If the claypot can't be washed with detergent, how should it be washed to ensure that they are clean? I have young children in the family and would like to be careful.

Similarly, I was also told that cast iron pots and pans should not be washed with detergent. However, I have been doing so as I can't think of any other way of washing clean without detergent. Wonder if you are also familiar with this.

Tks
Jasmine

Unknown said...

jasmine

just soak the clay pots with hot or warm water, scrap away stuck food, rince, drip dry.

for cast-iron, just wipe away grease and food with kitchen towel

JK said...

Hi Lily
Thanks for your reply.
Will it be clean just by scraping away the food, wiping the grease and rinsing? Won't it still be oily with the grease from the earlier dish that was cooked in the pot?
TKs
Jasmine

Unknown said...

jasmine

yes, it will be clean and if you rinse with hot water, then it will take the grease away. Rinse the pot again before you use it.

Sparky said...

Lilyng, I tried your recipe yesterday and it was so good! The chicken was very tender as it steamed with the rice. I didn't fry my salted fish, I just put it on top of the rice.

At first the rice came out a bit watery, but I steamed the whole thing in a steamer and it turned out great.

I think it would be great to add some dried oyster / scallop too for next time.

Thanks for sharing this recipe, your site is definitely one of my favorites!

Aileen said...

Hi, I tried your recipe and am pleased with the results.. Normally home cooked "Claypot" chicken rice turns out to be either dry or the chicken tastes bland but this your your recipe turns out just nice.... my suggestion is.. if you plan to cook this tomorrow it will be better if you marinade the chicken overnight...:) Thanks again for sharing your recipes...

Anonymous said...

Waiting for aluminium pot chicken rice to be cooked now, hehehe No claypot ...slurrpp slurrppp

I am so afraid of the burn, putting on low fire all the way...hopefully will turn out well....

Thank you so much for sharing this receipe...a cure for my msian food craving...
love this blog a lot..i link urs to mine :D

Anonymous said...

One of my favourite
dishes, I sometimes use
glutinous rice with
equally pleasing results.

Anonymous said...

I sometimes use Corningware or Le Creuset for finishing off in the oven, any stubbborn stains can be removed by use of scouring powder BTW, instead of garlic oil, would use shallot/ginger oil, a tip I got
from a top Singapore
restaurant in their preparation of Hainanese chicken rice, sometimes marinate overnight, importance of quality
of oyster sauce can't be stressed too much.

Anonymous said...

Marinating overnight is
probably not a good idea
as I was to discover to my disappointment today
in view of diminution
or dilution of flavours
factor.

Unknown said...

anonymous

if you intend to marinate overnight, ginger juice should not be added in.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Lily, where would I be, a novice
cook, without the benefit of your expert advice.

I bought a quantity of
Marmite at a dirt-cheap
sale that I would like to turn into a delicious repast with perhaps
pork or poultry. Any recipe suggestions?

Unknown said...

anonymous

how lucky of you to get marmite cheap.

I did use marmite with honey for the sauce for chicken and i am sure it will be good for pork too.
i will post it, if only i could find the picture i took of this dish.

Anonymous said...

Never before ever used
Marmite as a cooking
ingredient, should I
perhaps saute any of
shallots, garlic and
ginger for use in conjunction with
Marmite/honey sauce in a stewed chicken leg dish that I propose to prepare with perhaps
a bit of soy sauce.

Unknown said...

anon

i will be posting my version of to cook chicken with marmite as the sauce.

the better way would be to marinate the chicken with light soya sauce, pepper and cornstarch and then deep fry until the chicken is crispy.

then make the sauce with marmite, maltose and honey and drizzle over the chicken like chinese sweet and sour pork

Anonymous said...

*Marmite Chicken

I shan't be cooking
anything until I get your recipe.

Anonymous said...

Lily, long ago as an
impoverihed student in
UK I used to consume
a lot of flavourful fried daz with
black beans in soya oil imported from China that sadly
is no longer done,
bearing in mind daz is a cheap white fish that is not available locally, can I perhaps use any other in substitution in preparing this dish
myself from scratch?
Got a recipe?

Unknown said...

anon

never gave dace recipe a thought cos they are still on our shelves.

Anonymous said...

Yes, spelt 'dace', for one tin, I could have
two servings with
plain white rice
with enough oil
left for use in other dishes- that's economy or
frugality. Had heard Malaysia has produced a
similar canned
variety but I've
yet to see it in my local Chinese supermarket shelves.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say thanks for your recipie. It was perfect. I'm really a lousy cook, but I cooked it in my rice cooker,and it was yummy. Can't wait to cook it for my hubby when he's back from overseas =)

Tammy

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily,
I recently came across your website and was very impressed! I tried making your claypot chicken rice twice now and I think I must be doing something wrong, but don't know what because my rice comes out too moist. The second time I added more rice, but with the same results. I like the rice to be drier. Any suggestions?

Unknown said...

anonymous

if your rice is too soft, the best guess is that the rice is new. In the case of new rice, water/stock used should be less and also chicken too will release liquid during marinating, in this case, discard the marinate when putting in the chicken to the rice. Or, nuke the chicken and marinate in the microwave until the sauce is thickened and then put onto top of rice.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lily

Cooked this today and boy was it good. Whole family enjoyed it with no. 2 son asking for seconds!!

So easy with the rice cooker.

Thanks, tried your joo hoo eng chai last time and it was delicious. Cannot wait to try the other dishes.

Thanks

Rgds

Yat

Lucas Mummy said...

i love it.. i just tried, and i love it.. thanks for the lovely receipe...
i shall post it online...

Unknown said...

To wash off what's stuck in claypot, rinse claypot, fill with a little water and sprinkle baking powder over burnt area; leave to soak before washing. Sometimes you may need to do it a few times.

ratu said...

I LOVE CLAY POT DISHES!!!.. Let me go out and buy a claypot sin ^_^

Unknown said...

ratu

you don't need a claypot, cooking this dish in the rice cooker or stovetop will give you a delicious meal too.

razi said...

thanks..

nice info..

Hery_(F4-Programmer) said...

i like it

Anonymous said...

can i not used chicken stock?

Unknown said...

anonymous

absolutely, use whatever stock and water is fine too

Olivia said...

Thanks for sharing this wonderful dish. It is really yummy and my little nephews & niece asked for extra helping. Yummy ;)

ccaprice said...

SUCCESS!!! Just needed to tweak the dish a bit. I didn't turn off the heat after the 30 min. mark as the rice was still crunchy. I transferred the pot to the smallest flame of the stove, added a little bit more water and then continued to cook for 10 more minutes. It was delicious!!! Also, I put in 3 chicken thighs but there was still a lot of rice left afterwards. Next time I will add one more thigh. Thank you! I will definitely try your other recipes.

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