Claypot rice is a dish that requires some patience. Made to order, with rice cooked in a claypot over charcoal, it takes about 20 mins. Usually cooked with chicken, Chinese sausage, salted fish and vegetables on top of the rice, other meat options may also be available. The slow cooking enables the flavour from these food to seep into the rice, giving it extra flavour. Some rice adhering to the pot would be charred, making them crispy. It is a must to scrape these and add them to the mix, this is the beauty of a claypot rice.
A bottle of dark sauce, and oil would be provided upon delivery of food. The routine for me after this would be:
1. Remove chicken pieces and sausage from pot (optional)
2. Add dark sauce and oil to rice. Adding less initially allows you to add more if required, there's no turning back if too much is added!
3. Stir rice to give it a mix, scrape off charred rice from pot. Mix well. (mandated 😎)
4. Add chicken and sausage back to rice, mix it around some more so that they are evenly spread
5. Serve!
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Of course, you can skip steps 1 and 2. Adding some oil to the rice to add some moisture would be good.
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​Claypot Rice
Nov 2021
Perfectly burnt, fragrant, tasty and lots of ingredients. Personal favourite.
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You will smell the fragrance from this claypot rice stall at the hawker centre, the smell of claypot char and cooked salted fish fills the air. The claypot rice here is served with chicken pieces, Chinese sausages, and of course, some salted fish, one big piece of salted fish actually.
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Every order takes about 15-20 minutes as it is made to order, the hallmark of a legit claypot stall. You order by size (number of persons), tell them your table number, and they’d provide free delivery to the table… Two tubs of oil and soy sauce are given when they deliver, you should use them, pour as much as you want, don’t overdo it though! The oil gives it a glistening texture as the rice can be quite dry so you should put enough; the dark sauce adds a subtle taste, too much can be a bit bitter.
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The first thing you’d do after adding the oil and sauce would be to give the pot a good mix, scrapping burnt rice from the sides and bottom of the pot is a must for me. The beauty of a claypot rice is to eat and taste the crispy burnt rice, and this is one of the criteria that separates the good ones and takes a bit of skill. Yew Chuan’s is cooked just right, not charred but crispy burnt, biting into some crispy bits now and then gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction… love it!
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While mixing, you might also want to take the big piece of salted fish, dissect it and spread it evenly around, one big piece in a mouthful is too much of a good thing! Better to spread it around.
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With claypot rice, there is always the worry that you get cheated with not enough meat; that is not a worry here. In fact, I had so much meat in my bowl I wanted to scoop just rice and that was not easy! Lots of chicken pieces, plenty of sausage and liver sausage, and a huge piece of salted fish that adds fragrance and taste.
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Chicken was also cooked just right, tender and juicy. It is not difficult to make a claypot rice, but to do it well with the burnt portion not too much, not too burnt, and having the chicken remaining tender and juicy, that requires some attention and heart. Yew Chuan does these well. Tops!
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Yew Chuan Claypot Rice
505 Beach Road, #01-73 Golden Mile Food Centre, s199583
12 – 830pm (starts 3pm on weekdays), closed on Mon and Thu.