Clay Pot Cooking

I bought a clay pot in Melbourne this weekend when we went there this weekend. I had a funny feeling I didn’t buy one cause it was so chaotic and we were in a hurry to go home. But eventually I did buy one.

This clay pot cooking happened when I went to a friend’s place for dinner and she had a terracotta pot she used for cooking potatoes and vegetables. I thought to myself, clay should use more often cause it retains heat, keeps in moistures and moisturises your food. So off I went onto the internet and did more research on clay cooking. That was when I decided to buy my first ever clay baker from Romertopf, then a handmade clay pot from e bay (the seller calls it a terracotta potatoe cooker but i steam my veges in it as well so technically it ain’t a pure potatoe cooker), then a chinese clay pot or some people call it a sandy pot.

A few cautions when using the clay pot, whichever type – baker, chinese or pot and that is never use detergent to wash them. As you may know clay is pourous so washing it in detergent means that the clay will absorb the detergent which may 1. make your food taste a little funny 2. possible harmful.. surely you don’t want to be eating detergent

 So wash them in either warm water or cold with some bicarb soda or salt.I haven’t tried salt yet as i feel a little safer with bicarb soda as it neturalises foul odours and stuff.

 So I bought a chinese clay pot this weekend. They are really cheap from 10 dollars for a very small one to 30 dollars for a good size family size one. I saw one in an asian grocery shop in chinatown melbourne for 17 dollars which is white outside that is unglazed and a glazed interior whcih is black in colour. I didn’t buy that one but it was a great size. I saw an identical one in a Richmond asian cookware shop for 65 dollars! What rip off. I didn’t buy the 17 dollar one but instead but one that was 30 dollars which was glazed both inside and outside. It is still a fantastic deal. The 17 dollar clay pot wasn’t as big as the one I bought.

 So after buying this clay pot, I decided to put it into good use, so the first thing i decided to make was clay pot chicken rice. I heard of clay pot chicken but never heard of it with rice so i decided to try it out. I found a few recipes online but decided to adapt it a bit. So here goes the recipe.

(I don’t measure my ingredients so I am just going by the approximate theory)

Ingredients:

(enough for 7 people and suitable for freeze(I think) i freeze it anyways)

- 1 full chicken cut into bite size piece ( i have half of it skin on and the other skin off so it isn’t as fatty)

- oyster sauce, dark soy, sesame oil, sugar, chinese cooking wine ( i use taiwanese rice wine but feel free to use shao shin wine or dry sherry) and soy chilli or skip it if you don’t like the heat

- a bunch of green onions –> t hey are also called shallots

- a bulb of garlic

- 2.5 cups of rice

- a thumb size of ginger

-dried shitake mushrooms (around 8) dehydrated in hot water –> keep the water

- a few pieces of fried tofu (if you can get fried tofu just get firm tofu from your supermarkt and pan fry it in a pan till golden brown. The purpose is so the tofu doens’t lose its shape when cooking in the pan)

- bunch of chinese cabbage (around 200 g)

-half a cabbage (small around 300 g)

Instructions:

1. Marinate chicken wiht the oyster sauce (2 tbsp), dark soy (2 tbsp), sugar (2 tsp), Chinese cooking wine(2 tbsp), sesame oil(2tsp). Keep for around 30 mins. I never have the time so i just marinated it for 10 mins. Clean the rice with water and soak it til you are ready to use it.

2.Heat oil in clay pot and add giner and garlic and shallots. Fry till frangrant and soft -around 5 minutes.

If it is the first time you are using the clay pot, you should apparently start with very low heat and slowly turn it up into high heat.

3. Add chicken pieces and fry till golden brown or till chicken is seared on all sides.

4. Add extra oyster sauce(1tsp) soy (2tbsp) sugar(1tsp) sesame oil (1tsp) and soy chilli (3 tsp–> i use a fair bit cause i love it hot), then add the shitake mushroom.

5. Turn heat down and simmer for around 40 mins

6. Then add the tofu  and the vegetables and rice

7. Add the water from the mushroom and enough water to cover the rice (1cm above rice approx)

8. Bring to boil and simmer for around 20 mins or until rice cooked.

Clay pot chicken while cooking in clay pot

Finished product

You can garnish with spring onions or fried shallots!

Enjoy