Hong Kong Style Claypot Rice Bowl

Our last trip to Hong Kong was in the Winter, which felt like Summer in San Francisco with a light breeze and no jacket required (for me). It’s the best time to visit Hong Kong and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. I was able to eat clay pot rice without sweating. Clay pots in Hong Kong are traditionally slow-cooked over charcoal stoves until the rice is piping hot so it has a crunchy crust at the bottom when it’s done cooking.

The top filling comes in many combinations of ingredients. Salted fish, pork belly, chicken fish, liver sausage, eel, frog, even lobster and black truffle, they have them all. I’m sharing a simple clay pot recipe, cooked in a rice cooker, and using chicken and Chinese sausage (lap cheong) as a base. This base is known as the classic clay pot option. Lap cheong (腊肠) is a dried, hard sausage usually made from pork, a high content of fat, and soy sauce. It has a sweet and a super light spicy taste that you can hardly note. They are generally available in Asian supermarkets and come in a vacuum-packaged form.

If you’re new to Asian cooking or looking for a quick and easy dinner, you have to try this one.