Can you make Claypot Rice in a home kitchen?

Cantonese claypot rice! An absolute classic lunchtime thing in both Hong Kong and mainland Guangdong... though generally it's the type of thing that you find at restaurants. In this video, we wanted to show you how to make claypot rice in a home kitchen, in order to have it be an everyday sort of thing!

0:00 - The Culture of Claypot Rice
0:31 - The Problem of Claypot Rice at home
1:51 - Key Point 1: Soak in Hot Water
2:13 - Key Point 2: Weigh your rice, Weigh your water
3:51 - Beef Marinating
5:09 - Claypot Rice Seasoned Soy Sauce
5:26 - Making the Claypot Rice
7:59 - Mise and Making a Full Meal

EQUIPMENT

You'll need a claypot, obviously. We're using a small 1L/18cm glazed claypot. This is the exact claypot that we use: https://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Chine...

The Amazon product is very pricey for a claypot, so do check out your local Chinese supermarket to see if they carry any first.

Claypots from other cultures should work fine so long as they're glazed. If you don't have a claypot, I've heard enameled cast iron can be a suitable substitute. Something cast iron should also be able to work with this recipe (rice texture will be fine), but you might need to play around with it in order to get ideal crisping.

Regarding stoves, if your gas stove burner cover does not allow you to dip the pot into the flame, see if you can remove it for that final blast. If not, only do a 30 second blast to crisp up the very bottom (the sides will not be crispy, but that's ok).

If you have an electric stove, make sure the burner is up to temperature before placing the claypot on it (otherwise the timing'll be a bit goofy). Then for the final blast, just do the same as those with immovable gas grates - 30 seconds only to crisp up the very bottom.

For those with induction, I have heard the best way to cook with clay is to place your claypot over a preheated cast iron skillet (i.e. have the cast iron be the medium between the stove and the claypot). I have not had experience with this before. Assuming it works (I see no reason why it wouldn't), handle just as you would if you were using electric.

Also, this recipe assumes you have a kitchen scale. If you don't have one already, buy one. They're cheap and super useful.

INGREDIENTS

For the rice:

Jasmine Rice (泰国香米/粘米), 210g
Hot, boiled water. Follow as per the video, as the rice will already take on some water from rinsing. The rice plus water TOGETHER should equal 440g. You will likely have ~20g of water from rinsing the rice, so that implies ~210g of hot, boiled water.
Oil, preferably peanut. ~1 tsp to rub on the claypot at the beginning of cooking, ~1 tbsp to swirl around the sides right before putting in the oven

For the beef:

Beef - loin, flank, whatever - 100g (we used loin)
For the marinade: Kansui (枧水) or sodium carbonate (碱面) or baking soda, 1/4 tsp; salt, 1/4 tsp; sugar, 1/4 tsp; cornstarch (生粉), 1 tsp; black pepper, 1/8 tsp; soy sauce (生抽), 1/4 tsp; dark soy sauce (老抽), 1/2 tsp; liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), 1/2 tsp; oyster sauce (蚝油), 1 tsp; water, 2 tbsp; oil, ~1 tsp
Optional: ginger, ~1/2 cm, julienned

For the seasoned soy sauce:

Sugar, 1/4 tsp
MSG (味精), ~1/16 tsp
Soy sauce (生抽), 2 tsp
Fish sauce (鱼露), 1 tsp
Water, 1/2 tbsp

PROCESS

Rinse 210g of rice, add to a bowl on a scale. It should have already taken some liquid (likely the scale will read ~230g). Add enough hot, boiled water from the kettle to hit 440g. Let sit for 30 minutes.

During that time, mix your seasoned soy sauce and prepare the beef. Slice the beef into thin ~2mm sheets. Mix with all the ingredients for the marinade, really stirring in that water - the mixing might take 1-2 minutes until the water is fully absorbed.

After the rice is done soaking, rub the ~1 tsp oil onto the claypot, then add in the rice together with the soaking liquid. Place over a medium high flame.

Once strong steam is coming out of the rice cooker (~6-7 minutes), let it go for one minute longer. Then uncover - you should not see any liquid remaining. Pour the ~1 tbsp oil around the sides, pop in the oven for 20 minutes at 230C on the bottom rack.

Add the beef when there is 5 minutes remaining.

After its done, drizzle on the seasoned soy sauce. Then blast the claypot rice on a medium-high flame to accentuate the crust, 30 seconds each side (for 2.5 minutes, total). As per the discussion about equipment, only do a 30 second blast on the bottom if your stove is uncooperative.

Add the egg. Cover, steam for 30-60 seconds. Sprinkle over some chopped scallions.
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Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
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