Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice (煲仔冬菇鷄飯, Bou1 Zai2 Dung1 Gu1 Gai1 Faan6)

Chicken and rice cooked in a clay pot is classic Cantonese dish. This version adds mini-shiitake mushrooms, dried lily flowers, dried black fungus strips, and dried scallops. Mini-Shiitake mushrooms (my nomenclature) are very small Shiitake mushrooms that are occasionally available at my local Chinese herb and dried foods store. Since they are hard to find, a good substitute is to use diced regular sized Shiitake mushrooms. The one caution when making this dish is that any excess liquid marinade from the chicken will burn in the clay pot when the rice is cooked, so the chicken needs to be separated from the marinade before adding to the clay pot. The same caution also goes for the oyster sauce, which is only added at the end of cooking.

Using a clay pot to make rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. A crust is produced on the bottom of the clay pot, similar to cooking rice in a pot, and you don’t have to reboil to release the scorched rice from the bottom. The taste of the rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. The sequence of cooking the rice in a clay pot is:

1. Pre-heat the clay pot over medium heat for 5 minutes to prevent shocking the clay pot and possible breaking it.
2. Bring the clay pot rice to a boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes over low heat.
4. Scorch the rice using medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and allow the clay pot to sit for 10 minutes to release the scorched rice from the bottom.
6. Serve the rice.

Given that there are many variables when cooking rice in a clay pot, the cooked rice will vary from every time you cook it. If more water is used, the rice will take longer to cook. If too little water is used, the rice becomes more al dente and the volume decreases because the rice doesn’t get fluffy. Burner heat will determine how quickly the rice cooks and how scorched the rice will get. You just have to experiment and watch for the indications that signal when the rice is cooked to your personal preference. Making rice in a clay pot seems like a simple task, but you’ll find that it takes practice to get consistent results.

Enjoy!

Dungeness Crab Clay Pot Rice (煲仔北美大肉蟹飯, Bou1 Zai2 Bak1 Mei5 Daai6 Juk6 Haai5 Faan6)

This will likely be my last post for 2016. Since Dungeness crab, a crab local to where I live, is in season now and making this tasty recipe is real easy, I felt that this would be an appropriate last dish for the end of the year. I hope you’ve enjoyed, and maybe tried, a few of the recipes that I’ve posted this year. I wish you and your family a Happy New Year for 2017!

As I stated earlier, Dungeness crab is a local delicacy and it’s in season right now. I’m fortunate enough to be able to buy cooked Dungeness crabs at my local Asian market. I find that to be a real time saver since I don’t have to cook the crabs before shelling to separate the meat from the shell. Dungeness crabs are usually weigh around one pound (454 grams) and yield about half their weight in meat (1/2 lb. or 277 g.). So you’ll need at least two crabs to get approximately 1 lb. (454 g.) of meat. If you’re pressed for time or can’t obtain Dungeness crab, you can always use canned or frozen crab. The crab is added at the end of cooking (when the clay pot rice rests for 10 minutes) to heat up the crab and preserve the crab flavor.

I followed the same procedure outlined in the Clay Pot Rice (煲仔飯, Bou¹ Zai² Faan⁶) recipe, but add mini-Shiitake mushrooms, together with the Dungeness crab meat. The rice is made even tastier by using chicken stock and the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid to cook the rice instead of water. I made my own stock using the Bone Soup (湯, Tong1) recipe, but if you’re pressed for time, canned or boxed stock can be substituted. The other option is to just use the Shiitake rehydration liquid.

Using a clay pot to make rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. A crust is produced on the bottom of the clay pot, similar to cooking rice in a pot, and you don’t have to reboil to release the scorched rice from the bottom. The taste of the rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. The sequence of cooking the rice in a clay pot is:

1. Pre-heat the clay pot over medium heat for 5 minutes to prevent shocking the clay pot and possible breaking it.
2. Bring the clay pot rice to a boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes over low heat.
4. Scorch the rice using medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and allow the clay pot to sit for 10 minutes to release the scorched rice from the bottom.
6. Serve the rice.

Given that there are many variables when cooking rice in a clay pot, the cooked rice will vary from every time you cook it. If more water is used, the rice will take longer to cook. If too little water is used, the rice becomes more al dente and the volume decreases because the rice doesn’t get fluffy. Burner heat will determine how quickly the rice cooks and how scorched the rice will get. You just have to experiment and watch for the indications that signal when the rice is cooked to your personal preference. Making rice in a clay pot seems like a simple task, but you’ll find that it takes practice to get consistent results.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Chinese Sticky Rice (煲仔糯米飯, Bou1 Zai2 No6 Mai5 Faan6)

I’ve been cooking all my rice in a clay pot rather than a rice cooker since I prefer the results. For my family’s 2016 Thanksgiving dinner, I made Chinese Sticky Rice (糯米飯, No⁶ Mai⁵ Faan⁶) in a clay pot. I followed the same procedure outlined in the Clay Pot Rice (煲仔飯, Bou¹ Zai² Faan⁶) recipe, but used the ingredients for Chinese Sticky Rice. I also used dried shrimp and scallops that I buy in bulk from my local Chinese herb and dried seafood store rather than the prepared packages at my local Asian market. If you’re fortunate enough to have a Chinese herb and dried seafood store nearby, you’ll find a wide selection of dried shrimp and scallops (and other seafood) that’s not available at Asian markets.

Using a clay pot to make rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. A crust is produced on the bottom of the clay pot, similar to cooking rice in a pot, and you don’t have to reboil to release the scorched rice from the bottom. The taste of the rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. The sequence of cooking the rice in a clay pot is:

1. Pre-heat the clay pot over medium heat for 5 minutes to prevent shocking the clay pot and possible breaking it.
2. Bring the clay pot rice to a boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes over low heat.
4. Scorch the rice using medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and allow the clay pot to sit for 10 minutes to release the scorched rice from the bottom.
6. Serve the rice.

Given that there are many variables when cooking rice in a clay pot, the cooked rice will vary from every time you cook it. If more water is used, the rice will take longer to cook. If too little water is used, the rice becomes more al dente and the volume decreases because the rice doesn’t get fluffy. Burner heat will determine how quickly the rice cooks and how scorched the rice will get. You just have to experiment and watch for the indications that signal when the rice is cooked to your personal preference. Making rice in a clay pot seems like a simple task, but you’ll find that it takes practice to get consistent results.

Enjoy!

Clay Pot Rice (煲仔飯, Bou1 Zai2 Faan6)

Making rice is the most basic dish in Chinese cuisine; without rice you don’t have a meal. The most modern method is the high tech electric rice cooker that cooks the rice to perfection every time, regardless of the type of rice used. When I was growing up, before rice cookers became available, my Mom would make rice the old-fashioned way with a pot. Once our family bought a rice cooker, making rice in a pot was replaced by an electric appliance, where rice was made by pushing a button. When rice is made in a pot, cooked rice sticks to the bottom and gets scorched (burned), which does not happen with an electric rice cooker. After the cooked rice is removed from the pot, there’s a layer of scorched rice that can’t be removed from the pot, so water is added to the pot and boiled again. The scorched rice is released from the bottom of the pot, the rice eaten, and the boiled water drunk (飯注, faan⁶ zyu³). I have always missed eating scorched rice now that rice cookers have replaced pots.

Using a clay pot to make rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. A crust is produced on the bottom of the clay pot, similar to cooking rice in a pot, and you don’t have to reboil to release the scorched rice from the bottom. The taste of the rice is very similar to making rice in a pot. The sequence of cooking the rice in a clay pot is:

1. Pre-heat the clay pot over medium heat for 5 minutes to prevent shocking the clay pot and possible breaking it.
2. Bring the clay pot rice to a boil over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes over low heat.
4. Scorch the rice using medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and allow the clay pot to sit for 10 minutes to release the scorched rice from the bottom.
6. Serve the rice.

Given that there are many variables when cooking rice in a clay pot, the cooked rice will vary from every time you cook it. If more water is used, the rice will take longer to cook. If too little water is used, the rice becomes more al dente and the volume decreases because the rice doesn’t get fluffy. Burner heat will determine how quickly the rice cooks and how scorched the rice will get. You just have to experiment and watch for the indications that signal when the rice is cooked to your personal preference. I now cook my rice using a clay pot and have sidelined my electric rice cooker. Making rice in a clay pot seems like a simple task, but you’ll find that it takes practice to get consistent results.

Enjoy!

Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) Enchiladas

As with my other enchilada recipes, Grilled Chilpotles Chili Chicken Green Chile Enchiladas and Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas, the enchiladas are made with leftovers from another dish, in this case Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew). For these enchiladas, I added leftover rice to the enchilada before adding in the Carne Adovada (Red Chile Pork Stew) filling. Serve with shredded cabbage and Pickled Vegetables.

When I made these enchiladas, I could purchase 10-inch (25.4 cm.) flour tortillas. Now I’m unable to get that size and 8-inch (20.3 cm.) flour tortillas are the largest currently available. This means that more (but smaller) enchiladas will fit into a pan or alternatively you can make the same sized enchilada out of two overlapping 8-inch tortillas. I also switched brands of enchilada sauce to Las Palmas. Las Palmas uses chile peppers as the main ingredient, rather than tomato sauce with chile peppers.

Enjoy!

Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Fried Rice (鮑魚醬石蟹炒飯, Baau1 Jyu4 Zoeng3 Sek6 Haai5 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2016. The title was changed to incorporate the Cantonese translation for Stone Crab.

My previous recipe: Abalone Sauce Stone Crab Noodles (鮑魚醬蟹炒麵, Baau¹ Jyu⁴ Zoeng³ Haai⁵ Caau² Min⁶), used noodles with stone crab and this recipe is the fried rice version. Abalone sauce is used again as the basis for the sauce in place of the usual oyster sauce that I use in fried rice dishes. Oyster sauce can be substituted in place of abalone sauce if not available.

For me, fried rice dishes usually means leftovers, so this is a rather luxurious version of fried rice using cooked stone crab. The only leftovers in this dish is the rice itself (which is necessary). Regardless, this version of fried rice is tasty and worth the effort to shell the stone crabs to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Grilled Garlic Chili Oil Turkey and Turkey Bacon Fried Rice

This recipe uses leftover Grilled Garlic Chili Oil Turkey Thighs. I used to use regular (pork) bacon when I made fried rice. Bacon adds a nice smoky flavor to any dish, but now that I more conscience about adding saturated fat to dishes, I use turkey bacon in its place. The taste is not quite the same as the pork bacon, but turkey bacon is healthier for you while providing similar flavor (I just use more). If you’ve looked at any of my other fried rice recipes, you’ll find a common theme– they are recipes to use leftovers. So when I go out to eat at restaurants, I rarely order fried rice!

Enjoy!

Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Rib Fried Rice (燒烤排骨炒飯, Siu1 Haau1 Paai4 Gwat1 Caau2 Faan6)

So if you have leftovers from the Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Ribs recipe and cooked rice, you can remove the meat from the ribs and make fried rice. I added red serrano chili peppers to the dish to spice it up even more, but that can be omitted depending upon your preference for spicy food.

Enjoy!

Cantonese Pork Sausage Vegetable Rice (臘腸菜飯, Laap6 Coeng4 Coi3 Faan6)

At my local Shanghai restaurant, there is a dish called Shanghai Vegetable Rice (上海菜飯, soeng⁶ hoi² coi³ faan⁶) which consists of salted pork, baby bok choy, and white rice cooked in a clay pot. The first time I ate dinner at this restaurant, every table had ordered this dish (except mine, of course!). So the next time I went to the restaurant, I had to try the dish and it was quite tasty.

So I went online and looked for a recipe and found this one (this is Chinese language website in English, so I’m unable to give the English name of the site), which uses a rice cooker instead of a clay pot to cook the dish. I made a few modifications to the recipe: using Cantonese pork sausage, instead of salted pork; using the microwave, instead of water, to blanch the baby bok choy; increasing the amount of garlic; and using brown, instead of white, rice. All the changes resulted in a similar, but still tasty rice dish, and the amount of effort to prepare the dish is pretty easy. Try this dish if you’re looking for a substitute for plain rice.

Enjoy!

Cumin Red Cooked Pork Fried Rice (孜然紅燒肉炒飯, Zi1 Jin4 Hung4 Siu1 Juk6 Caau2 Faan6)

Here’s a recipe that uses leftover Cumin Red Cooked Pork and rice. Since pork belly is used to make bacon, stir frying the pork releases oil as it is cooked, and that oil is used to stir fry all the ingredients. The dish may not be the healthiest, but it is tasty.

Enjoy!

Shrimp and Salted Duck Egg Fried Rice (鹹鴨蛋蝦炒飯, Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Haa1 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 12 Apr 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

So this isn’t a typical fried rice dish for me since the ingredients are not leftovers, except for the cooked rice. 51/60 shrimp is used in this dish, which means that there are 51 to 60 shrimp per pound (500 g.). The reason being that you want to use small shrimp when making fried rice to make it easier to eat. A cooked salted duck egg is diced and added to the dish for added flavor. Cooked duck eggs can be purchased at your local Asian market. If you can get uncooked salted duck eggs (which are now hard to find in my area), you can just scramble it with the other (chicken) eggs. The amount of fried rice will easily feed four people.

 

Enjoy!

Garlic Pork Fried Rice (蒜豬肉炒飯, Syun3 Zyu1 Juk6 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 01 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Fried rice means leftovers and a tasty quick cooking dish. The rice from last night’s dinner has been in the refrigerator overnight and the pork from the Grilled Teriyaki Ribeye Pork Chops, Grilled Curry Pork Chops (燒烤咖哩豬排, Siu¹ Haau¹ Gaa³ Lei¹ Zyu¹ Paai⁴), or Asian-Brined Smoked Pork Chops is cut up into bite sized pieces. If you’re a garlic lover, you can always add more sliced garlic to the dish to satisfy your tastes. Finish the dish with oyster sauce and sesame oil.

Enjoy!

Three Flavor Fried Rice (三鮮炒飯, Saam1 Sin1 Caau2 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 04 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Here’s another three flavor (beef, chicken, shrimp) dish that you can get at my local Muslim Chinese restaurant. In order to make this dish you need all three flavors available at once, which can be a problem since you’re likely to make dishes with only one available. Since I made the Three Flavor Shanghai Noodles (三鮮上海麵, Saam¹ Sin¹ Soeng⁶ Hoi² Min⁶) recipe, I had all three flavors available and decided to go for it.

I use Lee Kum Kee brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce because it’s the brand I grew up with and has a good flavor. It’s a little more expensive than other brands, but it’s worth the price in my opinion. I once had a weak moment and bought an inexpensive brand of oyster sauce, and was disappointed in the flavor when compared to the Lee Kum Kee Premium brand. So get the good stuff!

Enjoy!

Chinese Sticky Rice (糯米飯, No6 Mai5 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Jan 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Happy New Year’s to everyone. For the first recipe of the year, here’s a simplified version of Chinese sticky rice. While there’s still a lot of preparation to make this dish, the recipe is much easier to make due to the use of a rice cooker than the classic version my Mom would make. All Chinese Mom’s have a similar recipe for this dish, the primary ingredients being sweet (glutinous) rice, Cantonese pork sausage, dried shrimp, and Shiitake mushrooms. The variation in recipes come from the way the ingredients are prepared, any additional goodies that get added, and the way everything gets cooked together to make the final dish.

This is one of the dishes my Mom would always make for holidays and for her (favorite) Chicken Stuffed with Sticky Rice (糯米鷄, No⁶ Mai⁵ Gai¹). She would carefully chop and brown all the savory ingredients, prepare the sticky rice, combine the ingredients, and then cook the whole thing in the largest pot she had. Needless to say, the preparation time and work for this dish was large, but the results were always worth it. The best part being that after cooking the rice, there would be a crust of sticky rice on the bottom of the pot, which was another tasty treat after being boiled with more water.

 

So being the curious cook that I am, I asked my Mom for the recipe many years ago, and tried to emulate her recipe with varying degrees of success for the past number of holidays when I was doing the cooking (mainly the dish turned out just OK). The main change to her recipe was that I used a rice cooker instead of a pot to make the sticky rice – which means no rice crust. So over the years, I varied the ingredients (adding dried scallops, dried oysters, and other ingredients), soaked (like she did) or didn’t soak the rice in the mushroom hydration liquid before cooking (the rice turned out too soft if soaked beforehand or didn’t have the right taste if not soaked), varied the ratio of glutinous to non-glutinous rice (using both white and brown rice), and the amount and type of liquid (stock, water, rehydration liquid) to cook the sticky rice.

 

The change I made to make this version of the recipe for my family’s Christmas 2012 dinner was soaking the rice for one hour before cooking in the rice cooker. I found the method in Carolyn Jung’s recipe for sticky rice at FoodGal.com. While there still is a considerable amount of preparation time required to make this dish, this version is far simpler and uses fewer ingredients than my previous attempts. My Mom gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to this version and couldn’t wait to take leftovers home with her! So below is the recipe for my rice cooker version of my Mom’s sticky rice.

Enjoy!

Chinese-Style Barbecue Sauce Chicken Fried Rice (燒烤醬鷄炒飯, Siu1 Haau1 Zoeng3 Gai1 Caau2 Faan6)

This recipe was updated on 15 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Here’s another fried rice recipe this time using leftovers from the Chinese-Style Barbecue Sauce Chicken (燒烤醬鷄, Siu¹ Haau¹ Zoeng³ Gai¹) recipe. Fried rice is synonymous in my mind with leftovers. This is a great dish to make when you need something quick after surveying the contents of your refrigerator!

I use Lee Kum Kee brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce because it’s the brand I grew up with and has a good flavor. It’s a little more expensive than other brands, but it’s worth the price in my opinion. I once had a weak moment and bought an inexpensive brand of oyster sauce, and was disappointed in the flavor when compared to the Lee Kum Kee Premium brand. So get the good stuff!

Enjoy!

New York Steak Fried Rice (牛排炒飯, Ngau4 Paai4 Caau2 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 26 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Fried rice is synonymous in my mind with leftovers. In this case, the leftovers were rather luxurious – New York steak and mushrooms – from the Grilled Mesquite-Smoked New York Steak and Vegetables recipe. I would normally use green onions in this dish, but I had chives, so I used them, but either will do. The Cantonese translation isn’t quite right, since the translation means beefsteak fried rice, but if someone knows the Cantonese for New York steak, please let me know. This is a great dish to make when you need something quick after surveying the contents of your refrigerator!

 

I use Lee Kum Kee brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce because it’s the brand I grew up with and has a good flavor. It’s a little more expensive than other brands, but it’s worth the price in my opinion. I once had a weak moment and bought an inexpensive brand of oyster sauce, and was disappointed in the flavor when compared to the Lee Kum Kee Premium brand. So get the good stuff!

Enjoy!

Lamb and Asparagus Fried Rice (蘆筍羊肉炒飯, Lou4 Seon2 Joeng4 Juk6 Caau2 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 12 Nov 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Fried rice is the ultimate leftover dish, which is why I normally don’t order fried rice in a Chinese restaurant. You use whatever’s handy to make a quick stir fry dish. The basic ingredients are rice, meat, vegetables, and oyster sauce (soy sauce is used in restaurants). I posted a basic fried rice recipe some time ago: Fried Rice (炒飯, Caau² Faan⁶). While there are many brands of oyster sauce, I use Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce because it’s the brand I grew up with and it does, in my opinion, have the best flavor. It’s a little more expensive than other brands, but it’s worth the price in my opinion. I once had a weak moment and bought an inexpensive brand of oyster sauce, and was disappointed in the flavor when compared to the Lee Kum Kee Premium brand. So get the good stuff!

Enjoy!

Technique: Reheating a Chinese Glutinous Rice Tamale (粽, Zung3)

This posting was updated on 07 Feb 2016. The title and opening text were changed.

This is not a recipe, but a technique to reheat a Chinese glutinous rice tamale. I’ve also heard it referred to in English as a dumpling, but it’s too huge to be called a dumpling!

So what is a Chinese glutinous rice tamale? Unlike the tamale you’re probably familiar with consisting of corn husks wrapped around masa with a meat filling, the Cantonese version consists of bamboo leaves wrapped around glutinous (sticky) rice with pork belly meat, Cantonese pork sausage, and a salted duck egg yolk. In addition, you can also find mung beans, peanuts, chestnut, dried shrimp, Shiitake mushrooms, and other goodies in the tamale, depending upon the source (usually homemade). There are many other Chinese regional tamale variations, as well as sweet versions. Whether or not you’re lucky enough to know someone who makes the tamales themselves (homemade always being the best) or if you buy the tamales at an Asian market, you’ll need to reheat them. Here’s a (relatively) fast method to do so.

Enjoy!

Fried Rice (Caau2 Faan6, 炒飯)

Fried rice (caau² faan⁶, 炒飯) is one of my favorite dishes to make and one of the first dishes I ever learned to cook. It’s Chinese comfort food. Fried rice is the ultimate leftover dish because leftover rice and other leftover ingredients are used. For this version, I added homemade hickory smoked bacon and Chinese broccoli (gai³ lan⁴, 芥蘭) to this easy to prepare dish, but you can add any ingredient that’s available. Other fried rice ingredient variations are pictured at the end. Oyster sauce (hou⁴ jau⁴, 蠔油) completes the dish.

Enjoy!