Chinese claypot rice...without the claypot

Chinese pot rice is yummy! It's a popular dish in asian cuisine. You can put in any ingredients you want. Some staples in pot rice are chicken, pork, cha-siu, black bean, bok choy...the list goes on. You can essentially add anything you like. It is usually cooked in a clay or ceramic pot. I didn't have one handy, so just used a stainless steel pot. It still worked.

Potato Pork Pot Rice

Here's what you'll need for 1 large serving:

Ingredients:

2  cups long grain white Rice
3-4  cups of liquid (water/broth) (depending on how much rice you use)
1/2  pound of lean Pork (slice into 2 inch cubes)
1/2  cup Shiitake Mushrooms (slice into 1/2 inch strips)
1  Carrot (chopped into 1/2 inch slices)
1  cup small Red Potatoes (chopped into approximately 2 inch size)
2  large Scallions (chopped)
2  Garlic Cloves (minced)
Ginger (minced and optional)
2  tbsp Olive Oil (to fry pork)
1  tbsp Canola Oil (to coat rice)
Salt and Pepper to taste

For Sauce:
2  tbsp Soy Sauce
1  tbsp Brown Sugar
1  teaspoon Rice Wine Vinegar
1  teaspoon Sesame Oil
2  teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce


[Prepping Pork]:
1)   Marinade Pork with sauce mixture/salt and pepper (set in fridge ~20 minutes)
2)  Take pork out of sauce marinade, but keep marinade.
3)  Sear pork in hot pan with Olive oil, add sauce mixture back in, and cook for about a minute.
4)  Set aside, leaving sauce in pan.

[Prepping vegetables]:
1)  With pork juices still in pan dump in potatoes and carrots. Fry for about 5-8 minutes on medium-low heat, until they soften a bit.
2)  turn heat up, and add Shiitake, Garlic, and Ginger. Salt and pepper to taste.
3)  Add bottoms of chopped Scallions (white harder parts)
4)  Fry for about a minute, then take off heat, and set aside.

[Prepping Rice and final assembly]:
1)  Rinse rice under cold water, until water runs clear. Strain well
2)  In large saucepan, or claypot if you have, add Canola oil to bottom, and dump in rice. Mix rice grains thoroughly with oil on low-medium heat for about 3 minutes.
3)  Add in water/broth (you can use any kind you wish chicken, beef) I used half water, half chicken broth mixture.
4)  Turn heat to medium, and add in vegetables with sauce, and meat.
5)  Bring to a simmer, then cover and leave for about 10-15 minutes.
6)  If you are using a saucepan, you may want to check more frequently that your liquid doesn't all evaporate, leaving your rice burnt. Add more liquid accordingly.
7)  After about 20 minutes, it should be close to done, if not already. Mix up your pot to get all the flavors combined, and vegetables and meat dispersed.
8)  Rock on!

It was really good. The long grain rice cooked this way almost becomes a short-grained rice texture. It's kinda cool. Cooking it all in the pot lets all the flavors combine incredibly, and the aromas....man oh man! You just gotta try it :)

Until next time.