Chicken Claypot Rice

Home cooked claypot rice – one of my most favourite forms of comfort food when I was growing up. It is easy to prepare and requires little cleaning after cooking this dish. All the tasty ingredients (including the rice) goes into an electric rice cooker, and after the rice has been cooked (as indicated on the electric cooker switch), it is ready to be served!

This savoury rice dish is also healthy food as very little oil is used in the cooking process.

The trick to this dish is marinating the chicken meat overnight so that the flavours of the seasoning get absorbed into the meat. This process also tenderises the meat, allowing it to be soft and tender when it is cooked.

Here is my personal recipe for this dish:

Recipe for Chicken Claypot Rice (serves 2 persons):

Ingredients:

(For marinating the chicken meat)

250g – 300g of boneless chicken thigh (cut into bite size pieces)

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 tablespoons shaoxing wine

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sesame oil

(For cooking in the rice cooker)

2 cups of jasmine rice

3 cups of water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons shaoxing wine

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sesame oil

4 pieces of dried shitake mushrooms

1 small piece of Chinese sausage (washed and cut into small slices)

Marinated chicken meat (from above)

Spring onions as garnish

Procedure:

1. Cut the 250g – 300g of boneless chicken thigh into bite size pieces. Marinate the chicken pieces with the ginger, wine, light soy sauce, salt and sesame oil in a large bowl.

2. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave the marinated chicken meat in the fridge overnight.

3. Wash the rice grains thoroughly with water and drain well.

4. Drain the soaked shitake mushrooms and cut them into thin slices.

5. Wash the Chinese sausage and cut it into small slices.

6. Place the washed rice grains, water, sugar, wine, light and dark soy sauce, salt, sesame oil, marinated chicken meat, cut slices of shitake mushrooms and Chinese sausage into an electric rice cooker. Mix it well before cooking.

7. Once the rice is cooked, leave it in the rice cooker for about 10 minutes before opening the lid. Mix well, sprinkle the chopped spring onions and the rice is ready to serve!