Claypot chicken rice is popular in many Asian countries just to name a few Malaysia and Singapore, which I had have eaten in the street, kopitam or food courts. There are many varieties in term of flavour added such as lup cheong and lup yuk, dried shrimps and dried mushrooms: shitake and of course chicken meat. Some use thigh and some use breast.

While it’s traditionally cooked in a clay pot, many use electric rice cooker these days easier for home cook like me. Claypot is sand pots many Asian countries would have them and used it to cook flavoured rice over charcoal like my grandma used too. My mom has the claypot, I couldn’t be bother to buy the claypot, so I used my rice cooker to cook it.

There are a lot of things to do for this recipe. As I have made a big batch today, I am having it on its own and it’s a bit lighter colour. My dinner is comforting, and delicious. Let’s cook!!!!

Ingredients

75 g butter
8 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
4 inches ginger, divided, chopped finely
4 lup cheong, halved
1/2 of long piece of lup yuk, cut into small pieces
5 chicken breasts, cut in bite size
1Tbs mirin
2 Tbs Shoa Xing (Chinese cooking wine)
1 1/2 Tbs minced garlic
6-7 c rice, wash and drain
1 L chicken stock (about 4 c)
3-4 c water
2 Tsp chicken powder stock
a dash or two light soy sauce
salt
oil
ajinomoto (OPT)

Method

Place chicken in a bowl. Add 2″ finely chopped ginger, mirin, and Shaoxing cooking wine. Allow the chicken to marinate for 30 minutes. In a wok, put enough water and a stand, then place lup cheong and lup yuk on a metal plate and let it sit on the stand. Steam cook for 35-45 minutes until softened a bit. Do check regularly for enough water.

In a deep pan add 2 Tbs oil and butter let butter melt. Then add the remaining 2” chopped finely ginger and chopped finely garlic and fry until a little brown, add drained rice and toss around till oil and butter absorbed. Transfer to rice cooker add 3 c water, 1 L chicken stock, salt, ajinomoto, chicken stock powder, a dash of light soy sauce. Stir up well and make sure water level is right (slightly above the rice), then cook it.

Now the lup cheong and lup yuk should be done, slice thinly with serrated knife both of them. Put 1 Tbs oil in frying pan fry lup cheong and lup yuk a little bit about 1-2 minutes. Remove and set aside. Using the same pan add 1 Tbs oil, add minced garlic fry until fragrant, add chicken, salt to taste and cook until chicken are cook. Check seasoning.

When rice is done, add lup cheong, lup yuk with the oil from it, and chicken. Stir well to combined all. Let the rice cooker keep warm about 5 minutes to infuse all the flavour from the chicken, lup cheong and lup yuk. Spoon onto serving bowls and serve with a bottle of cool beer. Enjoy!!!

Note: You can use dried mushrooms, soaked overnight, slice thinly, thinly sliced black fungus, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, kim chi, or cooked green vegetables or/and cut chili with soy sauce or have some fresh salad on the site.

https://helenscchin.com/2024/04/05/flavoured-chicken-rice-without-mushrooms-and-black-fungus/

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