The Endangered Species of Claypot Rice: A Journey to Revive a Cultural Dish

Today, we're making one of the world's great rice dishes - Cantonese claypot rice. The other day, Steph was chatting with /f flying camel about how proper claypot rice is sort of becoming like an endangered species nowadays. When we think back in time, if you walked around the streets in Guong, you'd see claypot rice after claypot rice cooking over charcoal on the streets. We want to do right by this dish, but neither us nor probably you own one of these special charcoal stoves. So, today I think we've macgyvered a decent solution - we're cooking over charcoal.

To make claypot rice, you'll need a flat shallow Clay Pot like this one. This guy is about 8 inches wide and 3 inches deep, so it should be safe with any sort of Asian Clay Pot. Just make sure you're not using one that's meant for soup. We've thoroughly rinsed our Jasmine rice and soaked it in room temperature water for an hour after soaking. Then, we drained the rice in a setup like this for a half-hour.

There are many choices for topping claypot rice, but for ease of international replication, we went with chicken wing with ginger and scallion. We chop up your wings and make small cuts into the wings to allow for flavor penetration and more even cooking. Then, we dry those wings thoroughly - we don't want any excess moisture here, or the rice could get soggy. To marinate, we're using a dry marinade of corn starch, salt, sugar, and oil. We use this type of marinade because we don't want there to be any extra water released from the chicken. So, mix that up and let it marinate for 20 minutes.

As our chicken bowl is marinating, we'll chop up some aromatics - take about an inch and a half of Ginger and finally Julian them. Then, cut the white part of a few green onions into about 2-inch pieces and lightly crush them. The green part of the onion is just for garnish, so just slice up a bit of it and set it aside. 20 minutes later, our chicken bowl should still be about as dry as before, so we'll add in those aromatics - a touch of soy sauce and a little Yoo - give it a good mix.

Now that our topping is prepped, let's add the soaked and drained rice to our clay pot with 3/4 cup of hot boiled water. We should also add some salt and oil at this point too. But we muffed up and totally forgot to film it, so no worries! We toss the mixture onto the hot side of a two-zone heat setup and let it sit over high heat for 7 minutes - 7 minutes later, you should still see a little visible water like this. Toss in that topping, and if you look closely, you should be seeing a little simmering action. This is the ideal, but charcoal can be real variable, so don't panic if your rice has already absorbed away that visible water.

Cover your Clay Pot move it to the cool side of the grill - covering the grill and making sure to keep the top vent open - now we play the waiting game. Don't even think about opening that pot up and peeking, I'm paranoid too! We just have to fight the urges to check on it. 23 minutes later, now open them up, and drizzle a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar around the edges. For our weird mver step, see the best part of clay pot rice - it's the crispy charred bits on the bottom! We're getting those by putting the pot directly on the coals.

Arrange your charcoal into a bit of a ring and nestle The Clay Pot into it trying your damned is to get the charcoals evenly up and around the sides after 2 minutes of cooking on the coals. Take the clay hot out - we're not quite ready to eat yet though, so take some leeo and drip it over the lid if you're cooking for people. It's always impressive looking to do this step at the table, then make your guest wait in anticipation cuz this has to sit for 5 minutes.

The moment of truth is here - toss in a couple blanched veggies and a sprinkle of green onion for garnish and just look at this! The chicken wings are fall-off-the-bone tender. The rice has got the perfect texture, and of course, those wonderful Rice Krispies on the bottom! I hope you give this one a go - it'd be a nice addition to any barbecue. For a detailed written recipe, check out the Reddit link in our description. Subscribe for more Chinese cooking videos and leave us a comment down below with any questions or requests.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday we're making one of the world's great rice dishes cantony clayt rice the other day Steph was chatting with /f flying camel how proper claypot rice is sort of becoming like an endangered species nowadays see back in the day if you walked around the streets in guong you'd see claypot rice after claypot rice cooking over charcoal on the streets so we want to do right by this dish but neither us nor probably you own one of these special charcoal stoves so today I think we've macgyvered a decent solution we're cooking over charcoal but absolutely critical to making clay pot rice is a clay pot you're going to want a flat shallow Clay Pot like this one right here this guy is about 8 in wide and 3 in deep you should be safe with any sort of Asian Clay Pot just make sure you're not using one of those that's meant for soup so this is Jasmine rice that we've thoroughly rinsed and soaked in room temperature water for 1 hour hour after soaking just drain the rice in a setup like this for a half hour or so now there's a lot of choices for topping clay poot rice and for ease of international replication we went with chicken wing with ginger and scallion so chop up your wings and make small cuts into the wings to allow for flavor penetration and more even cooking then dry those wings thoroughly we don't want any excess moisture here otherwise the rice could get soggy and on that note to marinate we're going to be using a dry marinade so that'll be corn starch salt sugar and Oil we're using this type of marinade because we don't want there to be any extra water released from the chicken so mix that up and let that marinade for 20 minutes as that's marinating we'll chop up our aromatics so take about an inch and a half of Ginger and finally Julian them then cut the white part of a few green onions into about 2 in pieces and lightly crush them the green part of the onion we're just going to be using for garnish so just slice up a bit of it and set it aside 20 minutes later your chicken bowl should still be about as dry as before so just add in those aromatics a touch of soy sauce and a little Yoo give it a good mix and our topping is prepped now add in that soaked and drained rice to your clay pot with 3/4 of a cup of hot boiled water you should also add in some salt and oil at this point too but we muffed up and totally forgot to film it moving over to the grill just toss that on the hot side of a twozone heat setup let that sit over the high heat for 7 minutes 7 minutes later you should still see a little visible water like this toss in that topping and if you look closely you should be seeing a little simmering action this is the ideal but charcoal can be real variable so don't panic if your rice has already absorbed away that visible water it'll come out fine cover your Clay Pot move it to the cool side of the grill covering the grill and making sure to keep the top vent open and now we play the waiting game don't even think about opening that pot up and peeking I'm paranoid too we just got to fight the urges 23 minutes later now open them up and drizzle a mix of soy sauce sesame oil and sugar around the edges now for our weird mver step see the best part of clay pot rice is the crispy charred bits on the bottom and we're getting those by putting the pot directly on the coals so arrange your charcoals into a bit of a ring and Nestle The Clay Pot into it trying your damned is to get the charcoals evenly up and around the sides after 2 minutes of cooking on the coals take the clay hot out we're not quite ready to eat yet though take some leoo and drip it over the lid if you're cooking for people it's always impressive looking to do this Step at the table then you can make your guest wait in anticipation cuz this has to sit for 5 minutes Moment of Truth the reveal toss in a couple blanched veg and a Sprinkle of green onion for garnish and just look at this the chicken wings are fall off the bone tent tender the rice has got this perfect texture and of course those wonderful Rice Krispies on the bottom I hope you give this one a go it'd be a nice addition to any barbecue for a detailed written recipe go check out the Reddit Link in the description subscribe for more Chinese cooking videos and leave us a comment down below with any questions or requeststoday we're making one of the world's great rice dishes cantony clayt rice the other day Steph was chatting with /f flying camel how proper claypot rice is sort of becoming like an endangered species nowadays see back in the day if you walked around the streets in guong you'd see claypot rice after claypot rice cooking over charcoal on the streets so we want to do right by this dish but neither us nor probably you own one of these special charcoal stoves so today I think we've macgyvered a decent solution we're cooking over charcoal but absolutely critical to making clay pot rice is a clay pot you're going to want a flat shallow Clay Pot like this one right here this guy is about 8 in wide and 3 in deep you should be safe with any sort of Asian Clay Pot just make sure you're not using one of those that's meant for soup so this is Jasmine rice that we've thoroughly rinsed and soaked in room temperature water for 1 hour hour after soaking just drain the rice in a setup like this for a half hour or so now there's a lot of choices for topping clay poot rice and for ease of international replication we went with chicken wing with ginger and scallion so chop up your wings and make small cuts into the wings to allow for flavor penetration and more even cooking then dry those wings thoroughly we don't want any excess moisture here otherwise the rice could get soggy and on that note to marinate we're going to be using a dry marinade so that'll be corn starch salt sugar and Oil we're using this type of marinade because we don't want there to be any extra water released from the chicken so mix that up and let that marinade for 20 minutes as that's marinating we'll chop up our aromatics so take about an inch and a half of Ginger and finally Julian them then cut the white part of a few green onions into about 2 in pieces and lightly crush them the green part of the onion we're just going to be using for garnish so just slice up a bit of it and set it aside 20 minutes later your chicken bowl should still be about as dry as before so just add in those aromatics a touch of soy sauce and a little Yoo give it a good mix and our topping is prepped now add in that soaked and drained rice to your clay pot with 3/4 of a cup of hot boiled water you should also add in some salt and oil at this point too but we muffed up and totally forgot to film it moving over to the grill just toss that on the hot side of a twozone heat setup let that sit over the high heat for 7 minutes 7 minutes later you should still see a little visible water like this toss in that topping and if you look closely you should be seeing a little simmering action this is the ideal but charcoal can be real variable so don't panic if your rice has already absorbed away that visible water it'll come out fine cover your Clay Pot move it to the cool side of the grill covering the grill and making sure to keep the top vent open and now we play the waiting game don't even think about opening that pot up and peeking I'm paranoid too we just got to fight the urges 23 minutes later now open them up and drizzle a mix of soy sauce sesame oil and sugar around the edges now for our weird mver step see the best part of clay pot rice is the crispy charred bits on the bottom and we're getting those by putting the pot directly on the coals so arrange your charcoals into a bit of a ring and Nestle The Clay Pot into it trying your damned is to get the charcoals evenly up and around the sides after 2 minutes of cooking on the coals take the clay hot out we're not quite ready to eat yet though take some leoo and drip it over the lid if you're cooking for people it's always impressive looking to do this Step at the table then you can make your guest wait in anticipation cuz this has to sit for 5 minutes Moment of Truth the reveal toss in a couple blanched veg and a Sprinkle of green onion for garnish and just look at this the chicken wings are fall off the bone tent tender the rice has got this perfect texture and of course those wonderful Rice Krispies on the bottom I hope you give this one a go it'd be a nice addition to any barbecue for a detailed written recipe go check out the Reddit Link in the description subscribe for more Chinese cooking videos and leave us a comment down below with any questions or requests\n"