Cured meats and crusty claypot rice

Sausages and cured pork perfectly complement rice. [Photo by Pauline D Loh/China Daily]

Recipe | Silky Chicken and Sausage claypot rice

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 cups of long-grain rice, soaked

Half a chicken, cut into pieces

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp corn starch

1 tbsp Chinese yellow wine

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

2 cured pork sausages, left whole

Method:

1. Lightly oil the bottom of a claypot.

2. Drain the soaked rice and then add enough water to cover the rice with about 2 cm of water. Place on a medium fire until rice boils, then turn down on low until water has gone below the surface of the rice.

3. In the meanwhile, marinate the chicken pieces with the seasoning and mix well. Rinse the sausages and set aside.

4. As soon as the water has evaporated enough from the rice, immediately spread out the chicken pieces on top, add the sausages and cover tightly.

5. To get a nice crust at the bottom of the pot, tilt the claypot so it cooks on all sides on a medium fire.

6. Just before serving, turn up the fire to dry off the rice and brown the crusts.

7. Serve the rice with a combination of soy sauce, sesame sauce and oyster sauce drizzled on top. Snip the sausages into bite-sized pieces with a pair of scissors. If you like, serve with some freshly blanched kale or Chinese mustard greens (caixin).

paulined@chinadaily.com.cn