Recipe
Chicken in a Clay Pot
This is a hearty and delicious Cantonese dish. It is ideal as a winter food because the claypot keeps the dish piping hot. Cooking in claypots forms a part of Cantonese culinary tradition that is seldom encountered outside Asia.
In Singapore, there are restaurants that specialise only in claypot cooking.
Ingredients
- 450 grammes (1 lb) chicken, cleaned
- Two-and-a-half Tbs peanut oil
- 6 thin slices young ginger, peeled
- 90 grammes (3 oz) Chinese mustard greens (choy sum)
- 10 cloves garlic, sliced and deep fried
- 10 shallots, sliced and deep fired
Sauce Ingredients
- One-and-a-half Tbs oyster sauce
- One-and-a-half tsp dark soya sauce
- 2 tsp Chinese yellow wine or sweet sherry
- One tsp light soya sauce
- A few dashes pepper
- Half cup chicken stock or water
Instructions to Cook
- Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. Dry with kitchen paper.
- Place a claypot* over high heat for one minute, add oil and when smoking, add oil and when smoking, add ginger, garlic and shallots. Stir fry with a pair of chopsticks for one minute till fragrant.
- Add chicken and stir fry for about 2 to 3 minutes till the chicken changes colour and is slightly browned.
- Add oyster sauce and dark soya sauce and stir fry briefly.
- Add remaining sauce ingredients. Cover with the lid and boil over high heat for about 8 minutes.
- Wash choy sum, and cut off the root end. Pluck or cut into finger lengths.
- Remove lid from the claypot, sprinkle some pepper and place the vegetables over the top. Cover and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Serve.
* To season a Chinese claypot, immerse it completely in water for 24 hours