Clay pot Rice

I cooked this for dinner last night and had raving reviews. Forgot to take a snap picture of it and decided to record that recipe and future ones in a new blog which I began this morning.

Ingredients:
250-300g of meat (pork or chicken fillets)
2 Chinese sausages (Lap Cheong)
2 1/2 cups of rice (measuring cup which came with the rice cooker)
2 slices of ginger - julienned
1 tsp of chopped garlic
6 slices of approximately 5 inches long of "Mui Heong" salt fish
2 tsp of corn flour
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp of sesame seed oil
1 tbsp of Shao Hsing Chinese Cooking wine
Light soy sauce
Thick black sauce
Ground white pepper
3 1/4 cups of water (measuring cup which came with the rice cooker)
A hand full of fried shallots

Method:

1. Slice meat into thin slices.
2. Marinate with 1 tbsp of shoyu and 1 tbsp of thick black sauce. Add 2 tsp of corn flour and a dash of ground white pepper. Set aside in the fridge to marinate for about an hour.
3. Slice the "Lap Cheong" diagonally into thin slices.
4. Wash rice and set aside in a basket to drain.
5. Add the 1 tbsp of cooking oil and 1 tbsp of sesame seed oil in a kuali/wok and fry the chopped garlic and julienned ginger.
6. Then fry the marinated meat slices and then add the sliced "Lap Cheong" and fry till it looks shriveled.
7. Push aside the meats to make space in the middle of the wok for the oil to flow back into the round bottom. Fry 3 slices of "Mui Heong" salt fish and then toss the meats together.
8. In a separate pan, fry the rest of the 3 slices of "Mui Heong" salt fish lightly and place on small a metal dish/plate, together with the oil.
9. Add 3 1/2 cups of water to the meat/salt fish mix and bring to boil for about 3 minutes.
10. Taste the stock and if need be, flavor with light soy sauce and pepper. Enhance color by adding thick soy sauce.
11. Pour washed rice into a clay pot and top with the liquids and lastly the meats.
12. Sprinkle a hand full of fried shallots and bring liquids to a boil in the clay pot.
13. Place the metal dish/plate of fried salt fish on top of the rice to steam with the clay pot cover closed. Cook on low fire for 8 minutes. Do not open the cover until ready to serve.
14. Cut some chili padi/bird's eye chili pepper

NOTE:

• Quantities of water, temperature and ingredients used will contribute to the flavor and texture of the Clay pot rice.
• I've taken the liberty to link some terms and ingredients to explain and depict the items mentioned for easy reference.
• Variance - for a different flavor each time, you may add Shitake mushrooms, fried Yam cubes, fried dried prawns (har mai), a raw egg, top with cashew nuts, spring onions or even Chinese parsley.

New Blog!

Welcome one and all. This blog was created out of a desperate necessity. After being married for more than twenty years and having three children, I realize that I can no longer depend on my memory for occasional recipes which I may have dished out. I also cannot depend on my 'agak-agak' (Malaysian coloquial for 'estimation') methodology if there is a need and intention to 'hand down' my recipes.

I own several recipe books which record all my favorite recipes. It spans over a period of 20 years. Unfortunately, over that period there were times when I fell into my 'cooking moods' where I'd be all enthusiastic and passionate about cooking.

Recipes and methods would be in my head and I wouldn't need to refer to any recipe hard copy. These 'unfortunate times' resulted in the LOSS of many recipes when I fell into my 'hibernation moods' where my mum or my maid would be doing most of the cooking and I'd be busy RELAXING.

Yeah! I'm just lazy like that! LOL!

Meanwhile, this blog is still under construction and there may be random stuff posted until such time I decide to sort them all out! Have fun or not, the choice is yours!!