Claypot Chicken Rice

There was this famous place in Klang that I would frequent on a monthly basis with friends to indulge in claypot specialties. It was a non descritp food stall located at the food court of Parkson Grand Mall off Jalan Meru and they had the best claypot chicken rice and claypot noodles around. It's been years since I have been back to the food stall at Parkson Grand but did manage to enjoy some claypot chicken rice for brunch at another restaurant located opposite PJ Old Town Market off Jln Othman when I was home more than a month ago.

I have been looking for a claypot and finally found it (a fairly inexpensive one) at Pearl River in Soho . Chinese sausage is also known as lapchong or la chang and is made from fatty pork . These sausages are dried and will last for weeks in the fridge or for months in the freezer. Chinese wine used in this recipe is Shaoxing cooking wine which is made of rice and the aroma is similar to sake which is an acceptable substitute ( or skip it all together, I have made this dish without wine and it was still delicious). This dish can also be made by layering cooked rice and marinated chicken in a casserole and bake covered in the oven at 350 degrees for 3/4 hour, or until chicken pieces are cooked.

Claypot ChickenRice

Marinade for chicken:

3 tb oyster sauce

1 tb light soy sauce

1 tb cooking wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tb corn starch

Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken. Mix well. Spread mixture on rice when rice is half cooked.

Rice:

11/2 cup long grained white rice

chicken stock

half of a chicken, cut into bite sizes

1 chinese sausage, sliced

6 dried shiitake mushroom, soaked and sliced

2 inches of ginger, cut into 4 pieces

2 spring onion,sliced

Cook rice with the chicken stock and ginger pieces in a rice cooker or a claypot. If using unglazed claypot, soak it in water for 20 - 30 minutes. Wipe dry and proceed with recipe using low heat. When rice is half cooked, add marinated chicken pieces, Chinese sausage and sliced mushrooms. Cover and cook till chicken is done. Sprinkle with spring onions and serve. I like to serve mine with some hot sauce.