How to Make Cantonese Clay Pot Rice (煲仔飯)

When the first hint of a winter breeze rolls into Hong Kong, everyone’s mind—and appetite—immediately turns to clay pot rice, a comforting meal of rice steamed and crisped within a Cantonese clay pot with an assortment of toppings. Across the city, you’ll find restaurants serving clay pot rice with the usual suspects: spare ribs steamed with fermented black beans, minced beef and a runny egg, Chinese preserved sausages and greens, meatloaf, and slippery chicken, among many more. 

Though the toppings are important, many of the most popular clay pot rice proprietors in Hong Kong will point to the dark, seasoned soy sauce as the “soul” of the dish, though no two proprietors are likely to agree on what the ideal flavor profile of the finishing sauce should be. Some prefer a more savory sauce, others a little sweeter; some prefer a predominant soy flavor, others rice wine; some swear by a trinity of ginger, garlic, and scallions, while others will insist on adding dried scallops, shrimp, and ham. Over the course of my life, I’ve come to accept that there are just some things chefs will claim as absolute when in all honesty it just comes down to regional and personal preferences.

The Importance of the Toppings and Clay Pot

Despite clay pot rice’s popularity, few know the techniques required to nail this simple-seeming dish. The toppings, which cook at the same time as the rice, need to be seasoned and marinated sufficiently, with adequate fat to season the rice below as it renders.

As for the rice itself, the ideal clay pot rice should celebrate a duality of textures: soft, pillowy grains on the top, with an irresistibly crispy layer below. That toasty, golden brown rice at the bottom of the pot is a hallmark of many rice dishes from around the world, and is known by many names: la pega in Colombia, concon in the Dominican Republic, intip nasi in Indonesia, tahdig in Iran, okoge in Japan, nurungji in Korea, and socarrat in Spain. In Hong Kong, we call it faan ziu, or "scorched rice." 

That texture is the result of careful cooking using a clay pot. Compared to cookware made of metal, ceramic, or glass, clay pots heat up both slowly and evenly, and are able to retain and distribute that heat more steadily, resulting in more consistently cooked rice. Cooking rice in traditional clay pots also perfumes the grains with earthy notes from the pot itself, as hot air is pushed into the center of the pot through the porous clay.

Choosing a Clay Pot

Traditional Cantonese clay pots are tan and glazed dark brown within. Smaller pots fit for serving one to two people are about seven inches in diameter and have a single long handle and slightly curved bottom, while larger pots are usually double-handled and feature a slightly flatter bottom. I prefer using the smaller pots for making clay pot rice, as they’re easier to maneuver and have a higher surface area to volume ratio, allowing for more crispy rice per serving.

Still, there are reasons for using other types of clay pots. Glazed clay pots like Japanese donabe or Korean ttukbaegi, for example, are more beginner-friendly. Their smooth surfaces are less prone to cracking, they often feature a thicker bottom that reduces the risk of burning, and their larger sizes are more versatile for soups and stews. The trade off, however, is the earthy perfume you’d otherwise get from cooking with unglazed or partially glazed pots—such as the Cantonese clay pots—which allow for hot air to push through the porous clay and scent the rice with its distinct aroma. In addition, Cantonese clay pots are very inexpensive, which is to say that while they may be trickier to learn how to use, they’re affordable enough to accept occasional breakage as the cost of doing business.

Where to Buy a Cantonese Clay Pot

The best place to buy a Cantonese clay pot is a Chinese kitchen equipment store or an Asian supermarket. Because these pots are mass-produced, each will have its own defects, like scratches, cracks, and ill-fitting lids. For that reason, it’s best to purchase the pot in person so you can pick the best of the bunch. On a recent visit to a Chinese kitchen equipment store in Manhattan, the owners even let me test out the water retention capabilities of the clay pots by asking me to float them in a bucket of water to ensure that they were uncracked and ready for use.

Seasoning a New Clay Pot

New clay pots are prone to cracking if they’re dried out and exposed to sudden temperature changes. Seasoning a clay pot improves its durability by saturating the pot with water, then oil, and finally, starch. Upon purchasing a clay pot, I recommend washing it well with soap, then submerging it in room-temperature water overnight. The next morning, allow the pot to dry fully on a rack, then rub a thin layer of neutral oil over the bottom exterior and let it soak in completely. Finally, as per Chinese cultural wisdom, cook a pot of congee in the clay pot so the starches released from the rice can line the inside of your clay pot. This process only needs to be done once for new pots.

Choosing the Rice

It’s most traditional to use jasmine rice to make Cantonese clay pot rice. Texturally, jasmine rice is the easiest to cook in clay pots, as it provides a wider margin of error: its amylose-heavy composition means that it cooks up into naturally distinct grains, reducing the likelihood of gummy rice. 

Jasmine rice is also loved for its subtle floral aroma, which is most obvious in freshly harvested rice and pairs exceptionally well with the clay pot’s earthiness. Though older, aged rice has a less potent aroma, many clay pot rice masters will tell you that it produces fluffier, more distinct grains that are ideal for building that bottom crust. It's not uncommon for these cooks to use a blend of newer and older jasmine rice to get the best qualities of both in the pot.

Beyond jasmine rice, Japonica varieties like koshihikari or short-grain Northeastern Chinese rice also cook well in clay pots. These varieties, usually short- to medium-grain ones higher in amylopectin, are often sweeter and provide a more satisfying chew than jasmine rice.

My practice has been to combine both jasmine and short- or medium-grain varieties when making clay pot rice, which yields rice that’s fragrant and both fluffy and slightly chewy. From my experience, combining two types of rice does not significantly affect the prep or cooking time, so the recipe works the same even when two types of rice are in the pot. That said, you do not have to use a blend of rice varieties. Unless you’re just as picky as I am about my rice, you'll be happy with just one (though there's no harm in trying two if you want to see why I like it like that).

Preparing the Rice

The ideal texture of clay pot rice is slightly sticky but not mushy, with fluffy, distinct grains that can easily be tossed with the sauce and toppings. Each morsel should be fully cooked, with a soft bite in the center. In order to achieve this, it’s essential to prepare the rice properly: first by washing the grains, which removes some of the surface starch and prevents the grains from becoming gluey; then soaking the rice for at least an hour.

Why soak?  Hydrated grains cook faster and allow the center to finish cooking before the outside becomes mushy. Experienced Cantonese chefs will snap soaked rice in half; a white dot in the center of the grain means it is not sufficiently soaked for cooking.

Cooking the Rice

There are three main stages to cooking clay pot rice: boiling, steaming, and finally, toasting the bottom of the rice. Making clay pot rice well requires patience and care; during the 30 or so minutes it takes for the clay pot rice to cook, there are times when you can fiddle with it, and times when you should just let it be.

To start, you’ll preheat the clay pot for a minute or two, then add the soaked rice and just enough boiling water to cover, then bring it to a boil. This sequence is all about building momentum: Adding boiling water helps to preserve the heat in the clay pot, and helps the rice come to temperature a little faster. This is also the only part of the process where the rice is cooked with the lid off, so  the grains can be stirred to ensure even heat distribution.

When the rice has absorbed enough hot water and the water line dips below the surface of the rice, the second stage—steaming—begins. To help with ventilation that will allow steam to pass through the center of the rice, I use a chopstick to poke small holes into the rice before I arrange the raw toppings on top. With the lid on and the heat turned to low, the ingredients will cook in a gentler, slower manner. As the saturated grains steam, the fats from the toppings, like Chinese cured sausages or meatloaf, will begin to render and drip down into the rice.

After all the water has been absorbed into the rice, the grains will begin to gently sizzle. Though the time varies depending on the shape and size of the pot and the strength of the flame, most 1-quart clay pots usually take about 10 minutes to reach this point.

Upon hearing this sizzling, crackling sound, everything inside the clay pot should basically be fully cooked, and the only step left is to build an even, golden crust of crispy rice on the bottom. Drizzling oil, lard, or schmaltz around the lid so it drips into the pot and onto the rice helps with that process by allowing the bottom of the rice to fry in the fat. Some toppings will produce enough fat on their own for this to happen, but drizzling additional fat down the sides of the clay pot will make it much easier.

Aside from that fat, the positioning of that clay pot on the flame is key to getting a good, even crispy bottom. The key is to place the clay pot at a steep angle so that a quarter of the base is positioned over the flame at all times. The pot then gets rotated by a quarter-turn every minute until the rice is toasted. 

The tricky part? Knowing when the rice is ready. To preserve all the aromatics and the heat within the clay pot, this entire process needs to be done without opening the lid. Since you shouldn't peek into the clay pot itself, there are only two indicators for doneness: the nature of the vapor that escapes from the top of the pot and the sound of rice sizzling.

Water vapor usually comes out of the opening in clouds, whereas smoke—an indication that the rice is burning—looks thinner and smells burnt. As steam escapes the pot, there should be a fine, consistent sizzle, almost like falling sand. When the rice is properly toasted and dried, the crackle will become louder, more coarse, and the rice may even pop, at which point it will be done.

Toppings and Variations

The recipe below is a basic clay pot recipe, featuring perhaps the most typical topping in Southern China: lap cheong, or cured Chinese sausage. These dried, hard sausages are usually smoked, lightly sweetened, and seasoned with rose wine, and pair wonderfully with clay pot rice and the seasoned soy sauce it’s served with. Other preserved meats, like liver sausage, Chinese bacon, and cured duck legs, are also popular additions. As they steam over the rice,  they swell and soften, dripping rendered fat below onto the grains.  

I'm sharing two other clay pot rice recipes—one with velveted chicken and another with Chinese meatloaf—which are emblematic of more composed clay pot meals where the toppings are a little more substantial. Though they are typical, these three recipes are by no means exhaustive of all topping possibilities for clay pot rice.

Making the Seasoned Soy Sauce

Last but not least, there’s the seasoned soy sauce that’s always served with clay pot rice.  Some chefs describe the  sauce as the soul of the dish, and every clay pot rice restaurant will take it upon themselves to make their own. Though there are many store-bought options available in Asian grocery stores, making your own gives you finer control of the flavors, as well as a delicious sauce with which to season and prepare other dishes. Keep a batch on hand at all times, and you’ll be able to have clay pot rice whenever you want.