transported me back to childhood

Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice is a picture-perfect Chinese comfort food dish. It has an incredible earthy flavor–courtesy of the classic combination of Chinese black mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms and lily flower–and the silkiest chicken you ever tasted. Autumn must be in the air, because I just had a hankering for a warming clay pot meal, and decided to adapt one of my mother’s best. You can omit the ingredients you can’t find, and even if it’s only the chicken, you’ll have one hell of a chicken dinner smartphone!

My mom used to prepare this dish all the time in the steamer (without the rice) and served it family-style. In Cantonese, it’s called “waat gai”  (滑鸡). The only literal translation I could muster up is “slippery chicken.” Basically, by steaming the chicken, it ends up with a great silky texture and flavor. Our family always looked forward to dinner when we smelled it in the air, and as kids, we just loved to drown our rice in the soupy deliciousness at the bottom of the plate. So as you can imagine…the minute I tasted this, it transported me back to childhood study business in hong kong:

Well it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but you get the point. I’m doing my duty in passing this family recipe from my mother to the next generation by documenting it here. So get your clay pot out now, hightail it to the local Asian store to get one, or have Amazon deliver one to your doorstep! (this is an affiliate link, so any purchase will help support TWOL!)

You can also try out our Hong Kong Style Clay Pot Rice recipe, and I promise there are more clay pot recipes to come! I’m pretty sure this will also work with your rice cooker, but I have to admit we haven’t tried it yet. The best part of the recipe, after all, is the thin crust of crispy rice at the bottom of the pot that everyone fights over like a turkey tail at Thanksgiving Backup and Recovery.