Clay Pot Sticky Rice

Remember when I cooked Claypot Chicken with Mushroom ? I've been so eager to whip up another one of my favorite claypot dish - Claypot Sticky Rice. After drooling over Lyrical's "Claypot Chicken Rice", Precious Pea's "Lor Mai Gai" ( Sticky Rice with Chicken ), and WMW's Sticky Rice Feast, I screamed to myself, "I've got to have them all !" Oh well, since I only have two hands, I guess I'll stick to what I had originally planned on - Claypot Sticky Rice. Luckily I already have most of the ingredients I needed at home. Some leftover peanuts from my last peanut soup dish, chicken, dried shrimp, dried chinese mushroom, and wood ear mushroom (I enjoy the crunchiness so I tend to use it in any dish I can). All I needed from the Asian grocery store were just the glutinous rice and some quail's eggs.

There are numerous popular glutinous rice dishes in Asia. In Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Burma, glutinous rice is commonly used to make sweet savory desserts such as Durian/Mango sticky rice steamed with coconut milk and black sticky rice pudding. In Chinese dim sum, it is stuffed with meat, chestnuts and salted eggs, wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed. In Japan, it is used to make you see mochi, and in Korea and Shanghai, sticky rice cakes.

Sticky Rice aka glutinous rice or labeled as sweet rice comes in different grains - short, long, round and black, and it is usually soaked for hours before cooking to yield a sticky, chewy texture. The glutinous rice resembles the Arborio, Carnaroli Rissoto because they do exude more starch when cooked, becoming sticky, with one exception - glutinous sweet sticky rice is actually gluten-free.

Claypot Sticky Rice Recipe

Ingredients :
4 pc dried chestnuts ( skinless )
10 oz dried peanuts ( soaked and rinsed )
3 oz dried shrimps ( soaked and chopped )
1/2 a can of cooked quail eggs
4 oz wood ear mushroom ( soaked and shredded )
12 oz dried chinese mushroom ( soaked and shredded )
3 chicken drumsticks
chopped green onions
fried shallots
sesame oil
oyster sauce
thick sweet soy sauce to taste
thick black soy sauce for taste & color ( optional )
white pepper
salt to taste
chinese cooking wine
3 cups glutinous rice ( OR labeled as Sweet Rice )

Method :
1) Soak glutinous rice in water overnight ( or 12 hours ).
2) In a crock pot, boil peanuts and chestnuts in enough water to just cover them for 1-2 hours OR until soft.
3) In a wok, stir-fry green onions, dried shrimp, dried mushroom, and wood ear mushroom until fragrant.
4) Cut chicken drumsticks into smaller pieces and marinate with a dash of sesame oil, fried shallots, oyster sauce, and a splash of chinese cooking wine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes ( preferably overnight ).
5) Pan fry chicken until slightly browned on both sides. Add ingredients from Step (3). Stir-fry for 1 minute, add water ( enough to cook the sticky rice later ), white pepper, sesame oil, thick sweet soy sauce, thick black soy sauce, fried shallots, chinese cooking wine, and salt to taste. When the broth starts to boil, turn to low heat, cover, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes OR until chicken is done.
6) Remove chicken, debone and cut into bite size chunks.
7) Strain the broth to cook the glutinous rice with.
8) Rub some cooking spray all over the inside of a claypot, put in glutinous rice and pour in broth ( covering 1/4 inch above rice ), cover, and cook to a boil. Turn to low heat and cook for 5-10 minutes.
9) Remove cover. Use a fork to fluff the rice around. Check the texture of the rice. Add more broth if needed and continue to cook on low heat for another 5 minutes.
10) Add all the cooked ingredients and quail's eggs in. Stir until rice and ingredients are evenly mixed and simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes or until rice is done.

Deep Fried Belacan Chicken Wings

My second post is long overdue. Has everyone survived their Xmas and New year's bloatings from all the food, booze, or something much more interesting ? *grins* I fired up the kitchen for some fried chicken just before all that, and ended up with a whole long week of fever, flu & everything else in between. *sob*

Major seasoning : Toasted shrimp paste made of fermented krills, also known as Belacan in Malaysia and Singapore, and Terasi Bakar to the Indonesians, where krills are mashed, buried for sometime, fried, toasted and pressed into squarish shaped block of cake. They are also sold in powdered form in jars.

Fried chicken inspires some heated debates. So, you'll likely have quite a few different approaches. We got the Spicy Cajuns, the Old fashioned Colonel's Chicken and much more. Bring them on ! I'll start with a confession, this recipe was born out of ethnic preference. Yes, my recipe is seasoned with some wonderfully-stinky Belacan. This recipe has became popular over the years after I left for the States and is much talked about until recently when I called home. Almost all fried food is associated with Belacan seasonings. Although I've to admit that I still need to learn the manner of frying to 100% crispyness and juicy in perfection. I'm quite ready now, I think, to make this recipe do justice to almost perfection - easy on the flouring, crispy on the outside, tender, juicy and tasty on the inside - bye bye to Popeyes, KFC, and say hello to my Jumbo Belacan Chicken Wings, Yayy !! :)

So, how do you like yours fried ?

Deep Fried Belacan Chicken Wings Recipe

Ingredients :
5 jumbo chicken wings ( cut into drumettes & wings )
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp belacan powder
1 tbsp ground dried shrimps
1 tbsp black pepper
salt & sugar to taste
1 egg white

Seasoned flour ( in a Zip-lock bag ) :
Cornflour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp belacan powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt & sugar

Method :
1) Pre-marinade the wings with all the "ingredients", except the egg white. (for at least 2 hours to overnight preferably.)
2) Place the wings in egg whites, set aside.
3) Place them in the pre-seasoned flour, shake and ready to fry.
4) Heat oil, fry wings in medium heat for 10-15 minutes OR until nicely browned.

Other Belacan recipes : Vegetable stir fry with belacan and seafood of your choice, Tomyum Soup broth using belacan, and marinating chicken with belacan for BBQ, deep frying or roasting.