Nam-yu Chicken and Chinese sausage Claypot Rice (cast iron cooking)
南乳雞肉拼臘腸煲仔飯（鑄鐵鍋）
I have been in low GI diet recently so when preparing dinner, I have to cook something quick and balanced separately for me and my family. It’s early winter already and claypot rice is one of the options for my pal. It’s easy to prepare and there are meat, vegetable and rice in one pot. Since I posted the recipe of Claypot Spare Ribs Rice last week, friends urged me to write more claypot recipes. Besides pork ribs, chicken is also popular in claypot rice. In this recipe, I would marinade chicken with Nam-yu/red fermented bean curd, which I introduced lately in my previous post. Nam-yu is one of the very common Cantonese seasoning ingredients though it might not be as famous as soy sauce or oyster sauce in western Chinese food. Actually it is just as friendly as soy sauce in marinating or seasoning.
In addition, I add a Cantonese sausage in the rice with chicken. This is quite common in claypot rice menu. We call it ‘雙拼’ or ‘拼’ in Chinese, meaning ‘mix and match’. You could order claypot rice with chicken and spare ribs, sliced beef and pork, sliced pork and fish fillet, or either one with Cantonese sausage. Cantonese sausage is a must-have ingredient in my fridge especially during autumn and winter.
Again, I use a small cast-iron pot for cooking this one portion claypot rice. For how to steam rice, no matter white rice or brown rice, in cast iron pot, please read –
How to cook steamed rice with cast iron pot, I strongly suggest you to read this post if you have never tried cooking rice in cast-iron
For more dish using Nam-yu as seasoning ingredient –
Red Fermented Beancurd (Nam-yu) – pork and chili stir-fry, I have a much detailed introduction of it in this recipe
Nam-yu (red fermented beancurd) Chicken and Pumpkin Stir-fry
Ingredients – (all ingredients mentioned below can be easily obtained in Chinese grocery store)
- Chicken breast, 1 piece, about 250g, or use boneless chicken thigh
- Chinese/Cantonese sausage, 1, any type, I use the most common Cantonese pork sausage with a short and fat shape
- Rice, 150g, this is for a bigger one portion. I mix brown rice and white medium grain rice in this recipe, I like the combination of texture of different types of rice. Cantonese usually prefer white long grain rice, or Jasmine. For a low GI diet, use brown rice, red rice, or Basmati
- Nam-yu/red fermented bean curd, half piece, with 1tsp of the sauce in the jar. If you don’t have this seasoning ingredient, just replace it with 2tsp of light soy sauce, 1tsp of sugar and 1tsp of Chinese cooking wine
- Cornstarch, 1tsp
- Water 280ml
- Garlic, 2cloves
- Thai red chili, 1, optional
- Green onion, 1stalk
- Bok-choy, a bunch, or any Chinese green leafy vegetable, such as choy-sum, gai-lan
How to do –
- Rice rinsed in water to remove excess starch, drained; Line the iron pot with a thin layer of cooking oil; Put the rice in the pot, pour in 280ml of water and let it sit for about half an hour before cooking.
Note –
- The pot is with a heavy and sealed lid so there’s no need to add in too much water. But the absorption of water of different types of rice is varied. I strongly recommand you to try multiple times to find out the best texture you like;
- I don’t usually soak white rice in water before cooking. But if brown rice is used, I would prefer to soak it in water for half an hour before cooking.
2. Garlic, chili, and chicken breast sliced, mixed with half piece of Nam-yu chunk and 1tsp of cornstarch, mix well with your hand and let it marinate; Nam-yu is savoury, a little sweet and full of alcohol aroma, so I don’t put in salt, sugar and cooking wine;
3. Let’s start cooking. Lid on, bring to boil in high heat, usually takes about 2-3 minutes, then turn to low heat, steam for about 10 minutes till rice is almost set but still moist;
5. While the rice is resting, prepare some poached or stir-fried green leafy vegetable;
6. Place the vegetable on the side, sprinkle some chopped green onion and toasted sesame seeds on top; serve when hot and you may drizzle some light soy sauce on the rice.
4. Place sliced chicken and Cantonese sausage on top of the rice, lid on and keep low heat, steam for at least 15 minutes; brown rice needs a bit more time to cook to perfection so I would let it cook in low heat till I can smell charcoal smell, then turn off the heat. The slightly burnt bottom is my favourite rice crust of claypot rice. Let the rice rest for at least 10 minutes with lid on so that the moist and flavour could retain into the rice and it’s easier to remove the rice crust from the pot bottom;
