Claypot Rice with Chicken and Chestnuts

We love having claypot rice in winter days. The rice is so flavoursome and soft, absorbed all the flavours of the chicken sauce.

Whenever I spot any good quality chestnuts on sale, I’d definitely grab a large bag home. I’m so glad that the weather is getting cold these few days. It’s time to draw out my claypot to make some delicious chicken chestnut rice.

The rice absorbs all the flavours of the chicken and mushroom. Both of the fragrance and taste of this claypot rice are so good that’s beyond your imagination.

If you like eating some crunchy rice, you’ll get a bit at the claypot bottom to enjoy. Well, there’s only one shortcoming if you cook rice in claypot.

You can’t leave it unattended or walk away for watching your favourite television show or answering any phone calls. Otherwise, not only will you enjoy that crunchy bit at the claypot bottom, but also you’ll have a whole pot of burnt rice. Be careful.

Claypot Rice with Chicken and Chestnuts Recipe

(Printable recipe)
By Christine’s Recipes
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Yield: 2 to 3 serves

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp wood ears, soaked
• 12 chestnuts, shelled and peeled
• 4 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and julienned
• 160 gm deboned chicken thigh
• 1 cup, about 155 gm rice
• 2 cups water (may use mushroom soaking water)
• spring onion, for garnish

Marinade for mushrooms:

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• ¼ tsp cornflour / corn starch
• ¼ tsp sugar
• ½ tsp oil

Marinade for chicken::

• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• ¼ tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• ¼ tsp sugar
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• ½ tsp cornflour / corn starch
• ¼ tsp freshly grated ginger juice
• ½ tsp sesame oil

Method:

1. Blanch the soaked wood ear in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain well. (Remark: if you use large wood ears, you can chop them smaller.) Mix the mushrooms with marinade. Set aside.
2. Cut the chicken into thick strips. Mix with marinade. Set aside for 20 minutes. Stir in the wood ears strips and shiitake mushrooms.
3. Rinse the rice. Drain well. Cook rice with 2 cups of water and chestnuts over high heat, covered. Bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to medium heat and cook for 10 minutes. When the water starts to dry up, immediately put chicken, wood ears and mushroom on the surface of the rice. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Keep the lid on. Let the chicken and rice rest inside for another 10 minutes. Remove the lid. Stir to combine all ingredients together. Garnish with spring onion. Drizzle sweet soy sauce if desired.

Notes：

• The power of every stove is very different. Please adjust the cooking time accordingly.
• To cook rice on stove, the proportion of rice and water used is 1:2
• You may use electric cooker instead. The amount of water used will be 10% less than usual as there are some moist in the marinated chicken. When you see some steam starts to release from your electric cooker, quickly add in the chicken and mushrooms.
• It’s not too difficult to shell and peel chestnuts. Use a not-so-sharp knife in your home to remove the outer shell. Soak the chestnuts in hot water for about 10 seconds, you can easily peel off the inner skin. You might like to wear a glove to hold a hot chestnut when peeling.
• If fresh chestnuts are not in season or hard to source in your area, frozen ones can be good choice as well.