Lap Cheong Claypot Rice 臘腸煲仔飯

To those of you who are celebrating Chinese New Year, I hope you’re having a fabulous time so far. I wanted to make lap mei fan 臘味飯 although I’m not celebrating because it’s so delicious plus I didn’t have any last year. Unfortunately due to the SOP, I wasn’t able to travel further than 10km to get the lap mei ingredients (which hails from Hong Kong). Thankfully, I was able to get homemade lap cheong (臘腸 Chinese preserved sausage) and yun cheong (膶腸 Chinese preserved duck liver sausage) from an online seller. And thus, this dish is born!

When I first ate this lap cheong claypot rice, I was immediately reminded of lap mei fan. It’s like I’m eating lap mei fan but without the lap yuk, lap ngap hoong, etc. I didn’t miss lap mei fan after this. Oklah a lot bit. 😛 Lap cheong claypot rice is called lap cheong po chai fan/bou zai fan in Cantonese. It’s so good that the claypot dish doesn’t need anything else except good quality lap cheong and rice. I don’t add any seasonings or garnish (no greens at all).

I’ve been making and eating this lap cheong claypot rice many times since the end of January. It’s a quick and easy meal especially when you’re so busy but want something comforting in half an hour. And when you’re sick of Chinese New Year food or you only have lap cheong on your hand, remember to try this.

Lap cheong claypot rice is so simple to cook and it rewards you with flavor bombs that tease your palate! I highly recommend this dish.

Let’s start cooking.

As the lap cheong is the main star of this dish, it’s definitely a must to use good quality lap cheong. How good or how bad the lap cheong is will be translated onto the final taste and overall experience. If you love wine taste lap cheong, I encourage you to use it.

I believe you know that lap cheong has an outer skin just like a regular ang moh sausage, right? If no, now you know. The outer skin is traditionally made of natural casing which is the intestines of animals but the modern version of synthetic casings may be made of collagen, cellulose or even plastic! If you know the source and you know it’s bad then it’s better to remove the outer skin before cooking. I always find it’s easier to remove the outer skin of liver lap cheong and so I remove it but not the regular lap cheong which the skin remains. However, liver lap cheong is very easy to crumble as you slice it.

Slice the lap cheong diagonally, about 1.5cm in thickness.

In this dish, I use sweet wine taste lap cheong (pork preserved sausage) and sweet wine taste yun cheong (duck liver preserved sausage). If you have ngo yun cheong (goose liver preserved sausage), you can use one piece each of each type. If you’re not into liver sausage, then feel free to use only lap cheong. However, I want to encourage you to try liver sausage. Taste and see. Who knows you will like it after this, like me who fell in love with it in the lap mei fan.

Next, rinse 1 cup of rice in the claypot until the water is almost clear. Then add 2 cups of water. Cover the claypot with lid and bring the rice water to a boil over low heat and slowly increase to medium heat. Avoid sudden change of temperature as claypot is sensitive to that.

Turn the heat to low when the rice water is boiling. For even cooking, give the rice a few stirs. Arrange the sliced lap cheong on the half-cooked rice.

Cover back the lid and cook for around 8-10 minutes over low heat. When cooked, no more water can be seen and the rice looks wet and glistening. Remove the claypot from heat and allow it to stand for around 5 minutes with the lid on. Don’t let it stand for too long as the lap cheong may overcook and turn hard.

This lap cheong claypot rice is so delicious when it’s served warm. Feel free to add some greens to garnish the otherwise red-like firecrackers of this deliciousness, but not me. I’m ready to dig into this sea of red!

This recipe is for two persons. If you’re cooking for more people, you want to adjust the amount of ingredients and cooking time.

The aromatics and juices from the lap cheong and yun cheong will season the rice, hence you don’t need seasoning, hence why it’s so AMAZING!

Give it a go ya.

Ohh, remember to read my 2 tips in the recipe below.

Lap Cheong Claypot Rice 臘腸煲仔飯
Serves 2

2 lap cheong (臘腸 Chinese preserved sausage), diagonally sliced ~1.5cm
1 yun cheong (膶腸 Chinese preserved duck liver sausage), diagonally sliced ~1.5cm
1 cup rice (or 1 bowl rice)
2 cups water (or 2 bowls water)

Method:
1. Place rice in a claypot and rinse the rice until the water is almost clear (about 4-6 times). Then, add 2 cups of water to the clean rice. With the claypot lid on, slowly bring the rice water to a boil. As claypot is sensitive to the sudden change of temperature, you want to start from low heat and gradually increase to medium heat.

Tip: You can use the rinsed rice water to water your plants. Skip the first rinse though.

2. When the rice water is boiling, turn the heat to low. Give the rice a few stirs to ensure even cooking. Arrange the sliced lap cheong on the half-cooked rice.

3. Cover the claypot with lid and cook for about 8-10 minutes over low heat. That is until all the water has been absorbed by the rice + evaporated and the rice looks wet and glistening.

4. Turn the heat off and without removing the lid, place the claypot on a table. Allow the lap cheong rice to rest for about 5 minutes for the residual heat to finish up the cooking. Make sure not to rest it for too long as you may overcook the lap cheong and it will turn hard.

5. Lastly, uncover the claypot and scoop the lap cheong claypot rice into rice bowls. Best enjoyed when it’s warm.

Tip: When serving, instead of a regular rice bowl, I use Korean earthenware bowl (ttukbaegi 뚝배기) which retains heat way way better. This way it helps keep my lap cheong rice warm longer while I enjoy it.

Sek fan la!