Clay Pot Cooking, Cantonese Style
Like many cooks, I must confess a weakness for certain styles of cooking. Dum pukht probably tops the list it can be difficult to master the timings, its messy to put together, but ah, what it does for the food! Its not just the sealing in of the aroma thats appealing, but the fact that the spices seem to melt into the food, particularly if youre cooking a biryani.
Stir frying is another hot favourite if you use a Teflon wok or pan, it uses up much less oil than standard frying in a kadhai, for one. If its done correctly, stir fried vegetables can be fabulous you retain the crunch, the colour and the sense of freshness. The downside is that you cant mask the taste of old vegetables or meat, even with lashings of sauces. But then again, why would you want to eat stale food to begin with?
Then a friend of mine whos a designer returned from Singapore and told me about a cooking style that blends the two techniques in an interesting way. Shes an adventurous foodie whose response to a lifetime of travelling has been to take the world on her tastebuds. From chicken feet (not recommended) to fried ants (very crunchy), shes more or less covered the gamut of exotica. But her favourite restaurants in Singapore dealt with much more down to earth food.
Singapores claypot restaurants have taken an ancient Cantonese cooking technique and turned it into an art. All the cooking is done in a Chinese claypot, which must be soaked for at least a day in advance of the actual cooking. After thats done, the pot can be subjected to intense heat, though not usually for a very long span of time. What you get is a marvellous cross between dum pukht, stir frying and classic casseroles claypot cooking uses techniques common to all three. Its best to use chopsticks as the chief cooking implement, though a wooden spoon can be pressed into service if youre uncomfortable with chopsticks.
In traditional restaurants, diners are expected to help themselves from communal claypots. Its perfectly good etiquette to pick out choice morsels with your chopsticks and offer them to a fellow diner.
Heres her recipe for claypot chicken. Shes tried it out substituting Chinese cabbage marinated in mustard instead of the choy sum, with interesting if not authentic results. Sarson ka saag can be used, but lacks the lightness of choy sum, so it isnt a very satisfactory substitute.
Advance preparation: Immerse a Chinese claypot or an unglazed, ovenproof earthenware dish in water for 24 hours.
Ingredients: 450 gm chicken, cleaned and cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/2 tbsps peanut oil
6 thin slices young ginger, peeled
90 grammes (3 oz) Chinese mustard greens (choy sum)
10 cloves garlic, sliced and deep fried
10 shallots (spring onions) sliced and deep fried
For the sauce:
1 1/2 tbsps oyster sauce
1 1/2 tbsps dark soya sauce
2 tsp Chinese yellow wine (or substitute with sweet sherry)
1 tsp light soya sauce freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock (or water if stock is unavailable)
Place the seasoned clay pot over high heat for one minute. Add oil, when smoking, add ginger, garlic and shallots. Stir fry with a pair of wooden chopsticks for one minute until the aroma is released. Add chicken pieces, stir fry for two-three minutes until the chicken has browned slightly. Add oyster sauce and dark soya sauce and stir fry briefly. Add remaining sauce ingredients. Cover with the lid and boil over high heat for about 8 minutes.
Wash the choy sum, cut off the root, and chop into finger lengths. Remove lid, sprinkle some pepper and scatter the chopped vegetables over the top. Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve with rice.