Recipe: Make Tony Tan’s Comforting Claypot Rice When Cold Weather Kicks In

Tony Tan, one of Australia’s most respected chefs, is back in bookshops with a newly formatted re-release of his 2017 title Hong Kong Food City. The new mini-book, Hong Kong Cult Recipes, is one to add to your book shelf (or back pocket) for when you need a classic Cantonese recipe, fast. Then and now, Tan spoils us for choice, with 80 exemplary dishes to choose from.

This one, for claypot rice, is a favourite of Tan’s when the weather turns cold. He cites the charcoal-fired version at the Michelin-recommended Kwan Kee, in Hong Kong Island’s western district, as the best he’s ever eaten.

And while this recipe is Cantonese in origin, many variations exist all over Hong Kong. “Traditionally, chicken, lap cheong sausage and shiitake mushrooms are the usual suspects for flavouring the rice, but I’ve also had this with goose-liver sausage, frogs’ legs and salted fish,” he writes.

“Should you use a Chinese claypot, a good trick is to drizzle half a tablespoon of oil around the side of the pot after the rice is just cooked so it forms a firmer crust.”

Cantonese claypot rice by Tony Tan

Serves 2
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Marinade

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp ginger juice, squeezed from grated fresh ginger
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp Chinese five-spice
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil

Rice and toppings

150g boneless chicken thighs, diced
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water until softened, squeezed dry
2 tbsp vegetable oil
20g salted fish (see note), diced
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp julienned ginger
1 lap cheong sausage, thinly sliced
200g long-grain rice, rinsed and drained well
310ml chicken stock or water
2 baby bok choy, trimmed and blanched
Chopped coriander (cilantro), to garnish

Method

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl, add the chicken, toss to coat well and set aside for 30 minutes.

Discard the stems from the mushrooms and slice the caps into quarters.

Heat the oil in a claypot over medium heat.

Add the salted fish, fry until golden and then transfer to a plate.

Add the garlic, ginger, lap cheong and shiitake mushrooms to the pot and stir-fry for 15 seconds.

Add the chicken and stir-fry until partially cooked.

Remove everything from the pot and mix with the salted fish.

Add the rice to the pot and stir well to coat with the oil, then add the stock or water and bring to the boil.

Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

Return the chicken and salted fish mixture to the pot, cover and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through.

Turn off the heat, add the bok choy, cover and leave for 3 minutes.

Sprinkle with coriander and serve.

Notes

Salted fish comes in different varieties, such as mergui and snapper; use whatever is available from your Asian grocer.

This is an edited extract from Hong Kong Cult Recipes by Tony Tan. Published by Murdoch Books (RRP $29.99). Available now.