clay pot rice

Prepare the ingredients

• Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms. Add to a bowl with hot water, and cover until rehydrated. Once rehydrated, save the liquid, and slice the mushrooms into strips. Discard any tough stems.
  3-4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• Cut your chicken thighs into 1 inch pieces, and place into a bowl with salt, soy sauce, sugar, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, and sprinkle of white pepper (optional). Mix well, cover, and let sit for 20 min.
  1 cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, ½ tbsp white sugar, 1 ½ tbsp Shaoxing wine, ½ tbsp cornstarch, white pepper, 1 large chicken thigh
• Slice the Chinese sausage into diagonal ovals.
  1 Chinese sausage
• Wash your rice until the water mostly clear, drain, and set aside.
  1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
• Heat up a skillet on low-medium heat, and add neutral oil. When the oil is hot, add minced garlic and ginger, and stir fry for 1-2 mins or until fragrant.
  3-4 cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp neutral oil, 1 inch piece of ginger
• Add sliced Chinese sausage, and cook for another minute. Add marinated chicken, and cook until halfway done, about 2-3 minutes.
  1 Chinese sausage
• Add sliced shiitake mushrooms. The pan should be a bit sticky by now from the marinade and aromatics. To deglaze the pan, add in Shaoxing wine, and scrape the pan lightly with a wooden utensil to lift these up.
  1 ½ tbsp Shaoxing wine
• Let the Shaoxing wine cook and reduce (1 min). Remove the skillet from the heat.
• Replace your skillet with your clay pot (or any small, heavy-bottomed pot), and turn on heat to medium. Add the chicken, sausage, and mushroom mixture, and add the uncooked, washed rice. Mix well.
• If you like your rice extra flavorful like I do, add oyster sauce, and a small splash of soy sauce to the mixture.
  1 tbsp oyster sauce
• Add a total of 1 cup (+ 2 tbsp) of either chicken broth or mushroom liquid (from rehydration), or a combination of both (my choice). Stir everything in the pot, and let it come to a boil.
  1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• Once it’s boiling, cover with the lid, and turn heat to lowest setting. Rice should be done in about 20 minutes (don’t uncover the lid before then!).
• Once the rice is cooked, remove the pot from the heat, add a small dash of sesame oil and handful of sliced scallions, and mix well. If the rice looks too dry, add a bit more broth or water, mix and cover to let cook for a few more minutes.
  sesame oil, scallions
• (Optional) For extra crispy rice, drizzle neutral oil around the inside perimeter of the pot, and cover for another few minutes to let the rice crisp up.