Claypot rice is a race between the crust on the bottom and the rice on top. Soaking the grains first means they cook through before the base scorches. The sausage goes in late, when the water is nearly gone, and everything after that happens off the heat.
Cantonese · Main
Claypot Rice With Lap Cheong and a Crisp Base
The last ten minutes decide it: the pot comes off the heat and sits covered, which steams the egg and finishes the rice without burning the crust.
- Prep75 min
- Cook30 min
- Serves2
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 150 g | long-grain rice , rinsed |
| 2 | lap cheong , Cantonese cured sausage |
| 3 to 4 | leafy greens |
| 1 | egg |
| 10 g | sesame oil |
| 2 tbsp | light soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 1 tsp | dark soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | sugar |
| 1 tbsp | warm water |
| 5 g | sesame oil , for the sauce |
| 1 tsp | sesame seeds , toasted |
Method
- Brush the inside of a claypot with sesame oil. Add the rinsed rice and water at 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water, and leave it to soak for an hour.
- Mix the light soy, oyster sauce, dark soy, sugar, warm water and 5 g sesame oil into a dressing.
- Set the pot over high heat until it boils, then turn it down, cover, and cook until the rice is about eight tenths done and the surface water has gone.
- Slice the sausage on the diagonal and blanch the greens in salted water, then drain them.
- Lay the sausage over the rice, spoon the dressing on, and run a little oil around the inside rim of the pot.
- Turn the heat to its lowest, rotate the pot every couple of minutes so the base colours evenly, then crack in the egg.
- Cover and cook for 5 minutes, then take the pot off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes before adding the greens and sesame seeds.
Notes
- Do not stir once the sausage is in. Stirring lifts the crust off the base and turns it into soggy rice.
- A thin claypot heats faster than a thick one. Rotate it more often if the base starts to smell toasted.
- The 1:1.5 ratio assumes an hour of soaking. Unsoaked rice needs 1:1.2 and a longer, slower cook.
Ratios and technique checked against 沙小囡 on Douguo (秋风一起就该吃这锅腊味煲仔饭了！). The method here is written by Stellaok and the illustration is ours; no text or photograph from the source is reproduced.