Yet another one of those favourite childhood dishes, Clay Pot Chicken Rice makes a regular appearance on our dinner table, there’s just something so wonderfully homestyle and old school in cooking in a clay pot, that I bring it out at the slightest excuse. Rice, stews and especially Asian style soups – I just love using the clay pot to cook them!
Handy Hints
Using Clay pots
Unless the instructions say otherwise, before first use, always submerge your clay pot and its lid in room temperature water overnight.
Gently rinse it with water the next day, brushing off any dust. If your clay pot is glazed, don’t scrub with anything harsh.
Warm your clay pot up on a low heat to begin with, letting it heat up slowly, before increasing the flame. Clay pots hate sudden changes in temperature.
For this reason, if cooking in the oven, start with a cool oven.
Wash your clay pot when it’s cooled down, not while hot.
Special Ingredients
Dried Shrimp – an essential ingredient in South East Asian cooking, can be left out here
Salted Fish – another common ingredient, I’ve successfully used anchovies in many recipes that call for it, but again, can be left out
Sausages – traditionally, Chinese sausages are used for this but as I don’t eat pork, I used ordinary chicken sausages. Chorizos should be rather good
INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
400g Jasmine rice, rinsed and drained
300g boneless chicken, in bite size pieces
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced widthwise
2″ ginger, in strips (julienned)
1 small star anise
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2-3 sausages, in bite size pieces
1 tbsp dried shrimp (from Oriental stores, optional)
small 1″ size salted fish (again, from Oriental stores, optional), chopped up pretty small
2 large handfuls Pak Choi or Chinese cabbage, shredded (spinach will work too)
10 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
dash white pepper
300ml water
200ml light chicken stock (homemade or good quality shop bought)
Marinade for the chicken
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch/cornflour
Garnish
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
1 red chilli, spice level to your taste
METHOD
1. Marinade the chicken and leave aside for 30 minutes.
2. Let’s get the rice on in the claypot and while it’s cooking we’ll do the meat separately. Bring the water and stock to a boil in the clay pot and add the rice. Bring back to a boil, lower the heat and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, heat a frying pan or wok on medium heat and add the sesame oil to it.
4. When the oil is hot, add the onions and sauté for a minute, on medium heat.
5. Add the garlic, , star anise, dried shrimp, salted fish and ginger and cook for another minute.
6. Add the chicken, increase the heat and fry the chicken for about 5 minutes.
7. Next, the sausages, oyster & soy sauces, mushrooms and white pepper go in. Give it all a good stir and cook for 2 minutes.
8. At the end of the 10 minute cooking time for the rice, add the chicken & sausage mix as well as the vegetables (pak choi) you’re using to the rice, placing it gentle over the rice.
9. Cover and cook for another 15 minutes.
10. Serve immediately, garnished with the spring onions and chillies.
Mmmm! Thank you for this comforting and tasty recipe – quite easy, too. I made this in a metal pot, because I don’t have a clay pot. What is the difference in taste? I do have a Romertopf but they recommend against using on the hob. Could that be adapted, maybe baking this in the oven? 5 stars
Hi Ken, I had quite forgotten about this OLD recipe! I really need to get it updated, but I’m so glad you found it useful. You could definitely make this in an oven in your Romertopf. Follow the recipe, cooking both the rice and the chicken. Then assemble in your pot, and place in the COLD oven at 180C/350F. Cook for 30-45 minutes. The time is an estimate, as I’ve not done this before. I’d say 45 minutes, but check at 30, as you don’t want the rice crisping up too much.
You could also cook the rice, then assemble with the raw, marinated chicken, and cook for 45-60 minutes. This way, the rice will take on more of the chicken flavour, but it will crisp up at the edges.
You might be interested in this particular rice recipe: https://www.linsfood.com/chicken-mandi-recipe-yemeni-chicken-rice/
It’s Middle Eastern. We roast the raw chicken on the oven shelf, with the rice below, catching all the cooking juices. When done, we turn the oven off, and place a piece of smoking coal in the oven, so that everything takes on a smoky flavour.
Or if you fancy more Chinese recipes: https://www.linsfood.com/chinese-recipes/