Claypot Chicken Rice (Improved)

I have been keeping a list of dishes that i would like to improve my recipes on and this is one of them! You can make claypot rice in a rice cooker easily these days but there is something about this dish that you just can’t get from cooking it in the rice cooker. That would be the crispy charred bits of rice at the bottom of the claypot! That is considered to be the best part of this dish! I improved my previous recipe by making crispy fried shallots and using the shallot oil to make the rice. It gave it more aroma and fragrance and definitely enhanced the flavours!

Ingredients:

1. 2 chicken legs, deboned and diced (marinated in 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp huadiao wine, 1 tbsp corn flour and black pepper)
2. Shallots, sliced
3. 4 shitake mushrooms, soaked until soft and halved
4. 1 lup cheong (chinese sausage), sliced
5. 1/4 cup basmati rice per claypot
6. 1/4 + 1/8 cup chicken stock per claypot
7. 1 clove garlic + a couple slices of ginger per claypot
8. Chye sim or bak choy, blanched
9. Thick dark soy sauce, for topping

Method:

1. Marinate chicken and mushrooms together for a few hours.
2. Fry shallots in oil until it turns lightly brown. Turn off heat and let the shallots continue cooking until golden brown. Dish up onto paper towels. Reserve oil for cooking rice.
3. Fry lup cheong until lightly charred. set aside
4. Heat up about 2 tablespoons of shallot oil. Fry chicken, mushrooms and all of the marinate sauce. Add a small splash of water and braise for about 5 – 10 mins until cooked. Set aside.
5. Heat up 1 table spoon of shallot oil in the claypot. Fry ginger and garlic until fragrant. Add in rice and fry until opaque.
6. Pour in chicken stock and cook until liquid is almost gone.
7. Top with chicken, mushrooms, sauce and lup cheong. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes or so over high heat. Turn off heat and leave lid on for another 10 minutes.
8. Top with bak choy and more thick dark soy sauce.
9. Serve with crispy fried shallots.