HONG KONG: Claypot Rice Joint

As winter approaches, it's time to fill your tummies with warmth by enjoying Claypot rice! I have found the best restaurant in Hong Kong that serves this. The name of this restaurant is "Sun Wing Wah" on Tang Lung Street, behind Times Square.

Do be prepared that it's not the most hygiene restaurant in the world nor expect world-class service. Each Claypot rice costs no more than a mere $60hkd ($8USD) including a pot of rice and a generous serving of soup. The floors are appalling and so are the tables, but if you head down there between November and April from 6pm-10pm, be prepared for a wait. They also have an outside sitting area (that I doubt the health department knows about), however, to minimize the wait, that will have to do for now. The service is equally as bad as their floors. They hardly acknowledge you upon your arrival, they're too busy to care whether you wait in line or not.

Now is this restaurant worth the wait? Yes. I've been here at least 5-6 times and I've even brought visitors. Why? Because they make the best Claypot rice and it's even better when it's cold outside. Their rice has never let me nor my visitors down.

Clay pot cooking is a technique of cooking food in an unglazed clay pot which has been soaked in water so as to release steam during the cooking process. This technique has a long history, stretching back at least to ancient Roman times, and is commonly used in several cuisines in Southeast and East Asia.
The food inside the clay pot loses little of its moisture because it is surrounded by steam, creating a tender, flavorful dish. The evaporation of the water prevents burning so long as the pot is not allowed to heat until it is completely dry. Because no oil needs to be added with this cooking technique, food cooked in a clay pot may be lower in fat compared with food prepared by other methods such as sautéing or frying. And unlike boiling, nutrients are not leached out into the water.

Because of the heat lost to the evaporation of water, clay pot cooking requires higher oven temperature and longer cooking times than traditional roasting with dry heat. Clay pots may be cleaned by scrubbing them with salt; soaps or detergents should not be used, because the clay may absorb them.

It is typically served with Chinese sausage and vegetables. More often than not, the rice is cooked in the claypot first and cooked ingredients like diced chicken and chinese sausage are added in later. Traditionally, the cooking is done over a charcoal stove, giving the dish a distinctive flavour. Some places serve it with dark soya sauce and also dried salted fish. Salted fish enhances the taste of the claypot chicken rice, depending on the diner's preference. Due to the time-consuming method of preparation and slow-cooking in a claypot, customers might have to wait a period of time (typically 15-30 minutes) before the dish is ready. The walls of the pot help to diffuse the heat, and as the pot warms it releases the water as steam.

One of my favorites is this one (directly below). A raw egg is placed inside when the claypot served, and the yolk is cooked halfway by the steam of the rice, then it's mixed with the meat and rice, coating everything.

The best part of claypot rice is the layer of rice that is on the wall of the pot. It's usually crunchy yet not oily at all, similar to Korean Bibimbab.

[Source: Wiki]