A Meal in a Clay Pot

Claypot rice! The perfect local delicacy to warm up with. It takes very little effort to make (just a good deal of patience!), and most definitely classifies as a quintessential comfort food. They are often made with Chinese sausages (comprising of cured pork- the red ones, or duck liver- the dark brown ones) or minced meat (either beef or pork) with a raw egg, or in this case, a salted duck egg. There are also variations with chicken or black-bean pork. Most importantly, they are topped with a sweet soy sauce that ties the dish together.

You can buy the claypots at the small local variety stores, especially in the Sheung Wan area.

If you prefer to leave the cooking to someone else, here are some places to get them! One thing I do recommend asking about it whether they cook their pots on top of a stove, or are more commercialized and chuck them all into an oven. The key difference is that those on a stove develop that crunchy, crispy layer of burnt rice at the bottom that may just be one of my favourite things about this dish.

Wing Hap Sing

G/F, 113-115 Jervois St., Sheung Wan, 2850-5723

Ser Wong Fun

G/F, 30 Cochrane St., Central, 2543-1032

They also specialize in snake meat that is supposed to help with colds and flus!

Kwan Kee (2 branches)

Shop 1, Wo Yick Mansion, 263 Queen’s Rd. West, Sai Ying Pun, 2803-7209 

243-245 Des Voeux Rd. West, Sai Ying Pun, 2803-0215

See after the jump for more photos and recipes!

Bao Inspired: Fried Mantou with Green Tea Ice Cream & Condensed Milk

(I burnt it a tad :( )

After a lovely dinner at my neighbouring shop, Little Bao, I was excited to recreate their delicious dessert at home. Mantous were a childhood favourite snack of mine, and I was impressed with Little Bao's use of three simple ingredients to create something so refreshingly new. Here's all you need:

INGREDIENTS

• Green tea ice cream
• Mantou (you can get them in all shapes and sizes in supermarkets)
• Condensed milk (they come in convenient toothpaste-like tubes!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Steam the mantou- either in a steamer over a wok of boiling water, or covered with a wet paper towel for a minute in the microwave.
2. Cut it in half and deep-fry it by dropping it in a pan of hot oil. I didn't want to waste too much oil, so I just poured a thin layer in a saucepan and flipped the mantou around with tongs (keep an eye on it or you'll burn it like I did!)
3. Allow the mantou to cool a little before squeezing some condensed milk on the inside surfaces
4. 'Cut' a slice of ice cream from the pint and sandwich it between the mantou halves (for better-looking presentation, run hot water outside the pint, pop out the ice cream, slice them, then put it back into the freezer to solidify again before sandwiching)

That's it! An easy recreation of this oh-so-popular and all-over-Instagram dessert!