Clay Pot Rice with Preserved Chinese Bacon, Chinese Sausage and Chicken-臘味滑雞煲仔飯

Families and Friends, hope everyone and your family are doing well! I bet everyone is busy doing their Christmas shopping, but it doesn't mean we have to stop cooking. So today I'll share a dish that 99%of the Chinese restaurant don't have in their menu.   Especially here in Tx,  I can never find a restaurant that serves this dish. This is what Cantonese call  煲仔飯(沙鍋飯) Clay Pot Rice.  Usually Cantonese make this dish in the  Fall and Winter. There are so many different kind of Clay Pot Rice. For example, Spare ribs, salty fish pork patty, dried duck, tendered chicken, salty chicken, preserved Chinese  bacon, Chinese sausage and duck liver sausage etc. Today I'll show you the most popular one, a combination with Chinese sausage, preserved Chinese bacon and tendered chicken. Jasmine rice soaked with chicken flavor, the sweetness of Chinese sausage and the smokey flavor from the preserved Chinese bacon gives this dish an AMAZING flavor.  Ok I think you know what I'm talking about! Let cook some clay pot rice!!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup jasmine rice(washed at least 3 times and drained)
• 1 chicken thigh meat(cleaned and stripped)
• 1-2 whole Chinese sausage (sliced)
• 1/2 pc preserved Chinese bacon( about 12 slices)
• 4 sliced ginger(stripped)
• 1 green onion( chopped)
• 4-6 pc Chinese green( cleaned) optional

-Preparation-

Cleaning the rice..

In a pot or bowl, wash  1  1/4 cup jasmine rice with cold water at least 3 times and drain the water. Then put the rice into a Clay Pot and add 1 1/3 cups "Cold" water to it. Set it a aside and let the rice soak at least 30 mins.

Cutting the Thigh meat chicken , preserved Chinese Bacon and Chinese sausage..

On a cutting board, cut up the Chinese bacon and sausage (if its frozen, defrost it first before cutting it) and then set it aside.

This is basically a salted and cured pork. It has a different flavor than similar items you'd see at the local store. 

Chinese Sausage...the. BEST. EVER.

On the same cutting board(to save time, don't need to clean cutting board) cut up the thigh meat into strips (AFTER cutting the other meats bc raw chicken is...well raw). Then place the chicken in a bowl and marinate it with 1/4 ts salt,  1/4 ts sesame oil and 1/2 ts cornstarch. Set it aside.

Steamed Chinese Greens...

In a small pot, fill it halfway with water.  Then bring it to boiling on high heat and add in the greens and blanch it for a couple mins. Drain it and set it aside.

Cooking the rice...

Place the clay pot over the stove and bring it to boiling in high heat. The rice will only take a couple mins to start boiling. As soon as the rice starts boiling, add the thigh meat, ginger, green onion(white part), and cover it with a lid for a minute

Rice cleaned 3 times and then soaked in cold water for 30 minutes. 

Raw chicken on the bottom to cook faster and it's closer to the heat.

Then add the rest of your meats on top of that.

Then add the Chinese preserved bacon and Chinese sausage. Cover it  again and now, turn the heat to medium-low for about 10 minutes. After that amount of time, turn the heat on LOW for another 5-10 minutes until finally, cut off the heat. Make sure the rice is cooked all the way by tasting a piece from the top.

Let it settle for another 5 minutes before serving! (If you like the rice a little burned and crunchy on the bottom of the rice like myself, turn the heat back on for another minute or two on high heat before serving), then place the greens around the pot and sprinkle with some chopped green onion!

Very hot and cozy meal to share with the family! (also good for campfire trips, but you need to mind how hot your fire is)...

That's it! Clay Pot Rice with Preserved Chinese Bacon, Chinese Sausage and Chicken 臘味滑雞煲仔飯! Enjoy it!!

~Extra Tips~

-Must use jasmine rice

-Cut the meat in a small size (so it cooks evenly through and through)

-Do NOT do anything else or walk away when making this dish. You don't want to burn your pot, your food, and your stove top.

-If you smell a burning smell, lower the heat

- KEEP the lid CLOSED! (no peaking! it let's out moisture and heat!)

NO PEAKING!

Coming up next!

-Sweet Vinegar Bell Fish Steak-

糖醋帶魚 

Isaiah 30:18-19

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers."

以賽亞書 30:18-19

"因此，耶和華必等候要恩待你們； 他必興起來憐憫你們， 因為耶和華是公義的　神。 等候他的，都是有福的。 錫安的人民、耶路撒冷的居民哪！你們必不再哭泣。他必因你哀求的聲音恩待你；他聽見的時候，就必應允你."

Steamed Pork Patty w/ Chinese Sausage & Shitake Mushrooms 臘腸冬菇蒸肉餅

This is a great example of what I call "homecooking."  When you cook at home, you cook with love and compassion. The lack of expensive china, pretentiously small portion sizes, and insatiable food critics create a sense of peace in the kitchen.  As peaceful as a kitchen can be that is. Home cooked meals don't have to be 5 Star presentations, but they CAN be utterly delicious. So let's look beneath this patty's humble exterior and uncover the bold flavors our ingredients have to offer.

LET'S COOK!

Ingredients

1lb ground pork
2 whole pc Chinese Sausage (sliced)
4 medium/large shiitake mushroom( soften and sliced)
1 green onion(chopped)
2 dry chili pepper( crushed)

The sausage can be purchased at almost any Chinese market. You can purchase the pork and shitake at your local market (HEB carries it).

If you lack dried chilis like so, crushed red pepper can make a substitution (but the flavors of the spice will change a little).

Seasoning for Pork Patty

1/2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs Maggi sauce
1/4 tbs chicken bouillon
1/2 tbs sesame
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1/2 tbs cornstarch
1/4 tbs sugar

Starting to see a trend here? A lot of Chinese cooking uses the same ingredients to achieve different sauces and flavors. But let's save that for another discussion....

Directions

Cut your pieces at a 45 degree angle. This will make your pieces look longer and more appropriate to the dish.

Moistening the shitakes before cutting them is highly recommended.  I have also cooked them dry before (but that involved a dish with lots of sauce which then rehydrated the mushrooms).  Remove the stems of the shitakes as well- they are hard to chew.

In a big bowl mix the ground pork with all the seasonings listed above, chili pepper, and 2/3 of the green onion( save 1/3 for later use)

Use all the seasoning ingredients listed above.  Then using your hands (washed of course), evenly mix up the meat with the ingredients.

Place the seasoned pork patty on a large dinner plate (10 inches or so), use a spoon to even up the meat. You can poke it a few times (so the meat will cook faster). This will prevent large lumps of meat which can take much longer to cook.

Spread it out as evening as possible.  This will help the cooking process be quick and even throughout.

Now, place the sliced shitake mushroom on top of the patty (similar in the fashion you would garnish a pizza) and then the Chinese sausage over the mushrooms. Finally, sprinkle the rest of the green onion. Set this aside for now.

Meat pizza.lol

First mushrooms, then sausage, and then finally the green onions.

Steaming the patty...

There are a couple different approaches to the steaming process.  In this sense, we mean a literal steam and not 'boiling' it in water. If you possess a steamer (of any kind that usually places on top of a skillet, wok, or large saute pan) then you are in good shape.  I actually have a rack that fits perfectly in my pot that fits the plate with the patty in it.  So while we are here, let's recap on how to get steaming...

In big steamer/pot, fill the pan about half way and bring the water to a rolling boil. Then place your steaming vessel, plate and finally lid on top.  **The water shouldn't be touching or submerging the food.  The idea is to let it boil underneath and let the heat evenly distribute (like a nice hot steam sauna). The cooking time will be about 25 minutes. Use a thermometer to check (if you have it) if the temperature reaches 165 degrees.

**Another thing to watch for, keep an eye on your water. Sometimes stove tops are unpredictable but most times they work in our favor. I've walked away plenty of times to come back to my pot COMPLETELY empty of water.  The stove had burned it all off! Bad things could happen (besides your food being completely uncooked). You don't want to overcheck it, but at the least listen for that boiling water...

And that's about it! Be careful of the hot plate! It's been steaming for 25 minutes! Before diving in, let it rest for a few minutes so that the meat can reconstitute itself.  It'll be less messy and easier to eat this way. You'll also notice that all the marinade and pork 'juice' have created a nice little sauce beneath it.  The meat will still be nice and moist without it (if you don't care to eat it with it). I recommend trying it with the sauce for the sake of flavor. It's gooood.

The charm of this dish is that it's a dish meant to be shared; similar to a pizza.  Everyone will gather around the dinner table with their chopsticks and rice bowls in hand picking away at this delicious meat patty.

If you haven't tried Chinese Sausage before, you are missing out.  It sweet and savory, moist yet firm, and it compliments the flavors of shitake mushroom so well, it's like they were meant to always be together. I highly recommend taking a trip to your local (or not so local) Chinese Market and get some of this sausage. But be careful, it's addicting.....

AND remember what I said in the last post? About when main dishes that are primarily meat usually get a nice fresh side of steamed vegetables or greens? This is the perfect opportunity to do so! Chinese cooking is all about balance (yin and yang). So when you pull that meat off of the steamer, turn that heat back on and steam some baby bok choy, napa cabbage, sliced carrots etc etc.  Eat some vegetables, they're good for yah. ;)

Thanks for reading! I have more to share with you coming early next week! Leave me a comment here or on facebook with any questions or just to say hello!

Coming up next- "Crispy Prawn with Candy Walnut in Sweet Creamy Sauce" （生汁合桃蝦）

Happy cooking, God bless, and see you next week!

~Hoby
Psalm 18:30
"God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection."