Hong Kong: Old School Passion

Long time readers of this blog (bless you for your patience) will know that I have a soft spot for perfectly cooked rice. It was for this reason that I made it a personal mission to seek out the famous Hong Kong dish of Claypot Rice (煲仔飯) on a recent trip there to attend a close friend's wedding.

Wing Hup Sing (永和成) in Sheung Wan has made quite a name for itself for its interpretation of this dish. This family run restaurant is as old school as they come - and helmed by the grandfather of the family who first developed the technique of baking his claypot rice in a baker's oven (given his background as a Chinese pastry chef).

The most popular dish at this humble restaurant is the shredded beef and raw egg claypot rice... and it is good. Piping hot with perfectly cooked grains - the heat from the rice cooks the egg which is mixed through. But claypot rice purists be warned - because this version is not cooked on a charcoal stove but is instead baked, there is no charred burnt crust at the bottom of the pot which some may find disappointing.

But regardless of which school you come from, you will be impressed by this establishment's dedication to perfectly cooked rice. The founder of the restaurant is known to request patrons not to use a spoon when they first dig into their meal as he feels that just cooked rice is slightly moist and may become mushy if eaten with a spoon straight away.

On my visit, a regular customer was overheard to be discussing with the owner at what point sauce should be added to the rice during the cooking process. This may not be the best claypot rice that I've ever tasted - but as far as passion and dedication goes - its one place I'll definitely be coming back to whenever I'm back in Hong Kong.

永和成茶餐厅

Wing Hup Sing
G/F, 113-115 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan

(Closed on Sundays)

For those who can't

Following on from the fantastic claypot rice I had in Melbourne recently, I was determined to recreate my version when I returned to Singapore. But sadly - my previous attempts at cooking rice in a claypot had failed miserably - I had ended up with overcooked, mushy rice at times and was unable to recreate the beautiful all important brown crust at the bottom of the claypot. And so, I fell back on my personal mantra - "Those who can, do... and those who can't, cheat".

The Cheat's Recipe to Claypot Chicken Rice

The Rice

3 cups Jasmine rice

Thumb sized ginger thinly sliced

1 tablespoon cooking oil

The Chicken

2 free range chicken breasts diced into chunks

1 clove garlic finely minced

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon soya sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons cornflour

The Accompaniments

5 dried mushrooms roughly diced

5 fresh shitake mushrooms left whole

2 tablespoons sake

The sauce

2 tablespoons dark soya sauce

2 tablespoons light soya sauce

Dash of white pepper

1 clove garlic finely minced

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

The Garnish

3 hard boiled eggs quartered

Finely chopped spring onions

1 red chilli de-seeded and finely sliced

Half spanish onion finely sliced

Method

1. Cook rice in an electric rice cooker with slightly less water than you would normally (ie. a smidgen under the marker for three cups of rice in the rice cooker). Once cooked, remove lid and leave to cool. This is to ensure that the rice is firm to bite and fully cooked when steamed in the claypot with the sauce.

2. Marinate the chicken for at least 20 minutes. Then, in a claypot over a medium flame, stir fry with mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Deglaze claypot with mirin. Once this has been reduced, remove chicken and mushrooms from the claypot and set aside.

3. Add oil to the claypot and reduce to a small flame. Add sliced ginger and sautee briefly. Then add half of the rice into the pot, pressing it lightly into the base of the pot with a spatula. Line half of the chicken and mushrooms on top of the rice (I do this to prevent too much of the sauce that is poured over the rice from getting to the base of the pot and burning due to its sugar content).

4. Add the remaining rice to sandwich the chicken. Top with remaining chicken and mushroom mixture. Scatter hard boiled eggs on top.

5. Pour 3/4 of the sauce over the rice. Then cover the claypot with its lid and reduce the flame to the lowest possible. Leave to cook for 20 minutes.

6. Remove lid and add remaining sauce and garnishing. You should achieve a beautiful brown crust using this method and rice that is not overly mushy. Another example of why cheaters aren't aways losers.

Melbourne Bites #2 - Addicted to Rice

I’m not ashamed to say it. I am addicted to rice. Rice that is cooked perfectly for me trumps every other food craving I ever have. There’s something heart-warmingly familiar about a bowl of rice that comes from being the common thread in all meals I’ve had since I was a toddler. First Taste of Soup restaurant in Footscray serves kick ass rice – firm to bite quality Jasmine rice grains slowly cooked in earthen claypots to reveal a deliciously golden brown crust. The rice is the star here but a wide variety of toppings (we tasted the black bean pork ribs and pickled vegetable steamed pork patty) are a great accompaniment. Choose from a wide range of herbal double boiled soups with your meal – and you just might check yourself straight into Rehab for Rice.

First Taste of Soup

104 Hopkins Street, Footscray

Melbourne