Wild Mushroom Claypot Rice

SINGAPORE / MALAYSIA

This is one of my favourite one-pot meals: the entire dish is cooked and served straight from the claypot. Traditionally, the claypot is set over a charcoal fire, so you get the smoky fragrance of burnt charcoal when the lid is lifted, although you can still get delicious results over a stove. The claypot retains heat beautifully, so that the rice steams while absorbing the flavours from the other ingredients; the bottom layer chars, forming a delicious crispy crust – the bit we all used to fight over. Often, preserved Chinese sausage and marinated chicken are used, but I always go straight for the juicy shiitake mushrooms. I like to add other varieties of mushrooms to the mix, in fact, doing a meat-free version altogether. This is not vegetarian, however, as I use lard and oyster sauce for extra flavour, but you can tweak it to be so (see note below). If you don’t have a claypot, you can use a small cast-iron casserole.

Serves 2
To serve
  1. Lightly rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and fresh mushrooms, and shake well to get rid of the water. Stir the soy sauce, sugar and oyster sauce in ½ a cup of warm water, then add the dried mushrooms and leave them to soak for about 30 minutes to rehydrate. Meanwhile, slice the button mushrooms and roughly break up the more delicate wild mushrooms into small pieces. When the shiitake mushrooms are soft and plump, drain and slice. Reserve the mushroom juices and marinade.
  2. Heat a claypot (or small cast-iron casserole) over a medium heat. Add half the lard and, when hot, fry the fresh mushrooms until just golden. Be careful not to overcrowd the pot, or the mushrooms will end up steaming and not brown; I do this in batches. Set aside and repeat with the shiitake mushrooms.
  3. Add the remaining lard to the pot, and when hot add the chopped garlic. Fry until golden, then add the rice. Lightly sauté for 2 minutes to toast the grains.
  4. Pour in 1 cup of water and the mushroom stock and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Drizzle sesame oil around the edges of the pot so that it runs down the insides, then cover and turn the heat down to low. Cook for about 10–15 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is mostly cooked.
  5. Scatter the mushrooms over the rice and replace the lid. Turn the heat to high again and cook for about 2 minutes, until sizzling and a crust forms on the bottom. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
  6. To serve, fluff up the rice with a pair of chopsticks. Drizzle kecap manis and sesame oil over, and finish with a sprinkling of spring onions. Have everyone dig in and mix the rice, mushrooms, and seasonings together as they go.

Note: For a vegetarian (vegan) version: skip the oyster sauce and use a bit more soy sauce and sugar in the marinade, and replace the lard with groundnut oil. And be more generous with your garlic and sesame oil.