Easy Claypot Chicken Rice

I love claypot rice but I have never cooked it in my entire life for a simple reason - I don't own a claypot! I balked at the idea of getting one after seeing that one would cost about $50 at Isetan. OK, I suppose it may have been cheaper in neighbourhood shops but I haven't check it out yet.

Anyway, I happened to come across a claypot chicken rice recipe that doesn't require the use of a claypot! All you need is an electric rice cooker! Which household these days doesn't have a rice cooker? I tweaked the recipe a little for my own consumption and the end product was amazingly authentic except it didn't have the crispy burnt cancer-causing bits which hubby loves. Pum Pum finished up a small bowl by herself. Even Ying Ying the fussy non-meat-non-veggie-eater, said "the chicken was nice". All that was missing was a great chilly sauce. Will cook it again next week. Yum Yum! ^_^

Ingredients:

(A)

2 cups uncooked rice, washed (I used 1 cup polished + 1 cup mixed grain for more fibre)

3 cups water

(B)

3 chicken drumsticks, cut into 3-4 pcs each

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sugar

1/s tsp salt

Dash of pepper

2 tbsp ginger (I chopped up some ginger and extracted the juice by squeezing it through a metal sieve)

1 tbsp cornflour

(C)

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

2 tbsp oil (pre-fried with 1 garlic + 1 shallot)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

some chopped spring onions

Method:

1) Marinate chicken for at least 4 hours, if best, overnight.

2) Cook rice till almost dry. (For me, it is 12mins before the rice turns ready.) Arrange marinated chicken on top of rice . Make sure chicken does not overlap to ensure thorough cooking.

3) When rice is ready, add ingredient (C) and mix it all up. Taste. Serve with some blanched veggies like xiao bai cai to make it more balanced if you like. (Check for small chicken bones if serving for young children.) Easy peasy, people!