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!

INGREDIENTS

For the rice:

• Jasmine Rice, 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 -or- sodium carbonate -or- baking soda, 1/4 tsp; salt, 1/4 tsp; sugar, 1/4 tsp; cornstarch, 1 tsp; black pepper, 1/8 tsp; soy sauce, 1/4 tsp; dark soy sauce, 1/2 tsp; liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine, 1/2 tsp; oyster sauce, 1 tsp; water, 2 tbsp; oil, ~1 tsp
• Optional: ginger, ~1/2 cm, julienned

For the seasoned soy sauce:

• Sugar, 1/4 tsp
• MSG, ~1/16 tsp
• Soy sauce, 2 tsp
• Fish sauce, 1 tsp
• Water, 1/2 tbsp

PROCESS

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Add the beef when there is 5 minutes remaining.
6. 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.
7. Add the egg. Cover, steam for 30-60 seconds. Sprinkle over some chopped scallions.