Chinese No Clay-Pot with Chicken and Shrimp

Chinese No Clay-Pot with Chicken and Shrimp

When I was living at my old place, one of my favorite restaurants was right down the street. We'd go there almost every other weekend. It is a little Vietnamese restaurant called Viet Q Vietnamese Grill. They make some of the best Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi) or these dishes called hot rice claypot, which to me seems either like a fancy fried rice or a better version of teriyaki chicken.

When I moved in with Joe, I asked him if we could still go there for dinner even if it was all the way across town. Now that he can't eat gluten, I'm afraid our Viet Q days are over. :-( I've been searching for dishes that are similar to the claypot at Viet Q, but have had a difficult time finding recipes that look even similar to the ones that we had at the restaurant.

I came across this recipe a couple weeks ago at The Kitchn and was very excited because it looks similar to the one at Viet Q, even though this dish says it's Chinese style. By looking at the recipe and the photos, the only differences were that the one at Viet Q uses egg, a lot more vegetables, it has more oil, and the meat has more of a glaze. Okay, that seems like a lot of differences, but it comes a lot closer than a lot of the other recipes I've found. So if you have a claypot recipe that sounds what I'm looking for, please send it my way!

I did make several adjustments to the original recipe. I only had one chicken breast, not two like the recipe asks for, so I also added in about a dozen frozen shrimp. I also added about a cup and a half of broccoli and half a cup of diced carrots. Lastly, the original recipe also asks for Chinese lapchang, which I've never cared for and my dad used to make it ALL the time when I was growing up-- so I used Italian salami instead. Yeah, sometimes I'm a bad Asian.

Some future adjustments I might make when I make this again, reduce the salt. It was a little salty, even though I used a reduced sodium soy sauce. I also might try it with different meats (pork loin or sirloin) and use more vegetables. I MAY even toss in some scrambled raw eggs before I put it in the oven, but I'm not entirely too sure that will work.

You can also make this dish gluten free. Use a gluten free soy sauce and check your labels for the sesame oil, corn starch, smoked sausage, long grain rice, and chicken stock to make sure they don't include gluten.

PS - Joe said that this dish was better than Viet Q's! Now, I don't agree with that statement but this means the dish got a huge endorsement from him!

Chinese No Clay-Pot with Chicken and Shrimp
Adapted from The Kitchn


1/4 c. soy sauce (I used gluten-free reduced sodium soy sauce)
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 c. broccoli florets
1/2 c. carrots, diced
1 boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
12 shrimp, raw, peeled and deveined (frozen is okay)
3 scallions, roughly chopped, plus extra to serve
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-inch piece fresh ginger, roughly grated
2 oz. smoked sausage (Chinese lapchang or good Italian salami), cut into 1/4-inch cubes
10 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, caps thinly sliced (I used cremini, you can also use white button mushrooms)
1 Tbs. canola or peanut oil
2 c. Chinese long grain rice (I used long grain basmati rice)
1 tsp. salt (might leave this out for next time)
4 c. chicken stock


Heat the oven to 350°F.

Whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Stir in the broccoli, carrots, chicken, shrimp, scallions, garlic and ginger, and toss so that they are coated with the liquid. Place this mixture in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least 15 minutes while you cook the mushrooms.

Place an oven-safe pan, like a 3-quart Dutch oven, over medium high heat on the stove. When it is hot, add the sausage and turn the heat down to medium-low. Let the sausage slowly release its fat. When the bottom of the pot is slick with the sausage fat, add the mushrooms. Turn the heat back up to medium high heat and let the mushrooms cook, without stirring them, for 5 minutes. Flip them over and cook for another 3 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pot, and sauté the rice briefly to develop some toasty flavor (you don’t want to brown the rice here, just sauté it for 1 minute or so), then add the salt and the vegetable/meat mixture from the fridge. Pour in the stock. Bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat, cover with a lid or with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Make sure to taste the rice for doneness before taking it out of the oven. Let stand 5 minutes, covered, before serving. Stir up the rice before serving, as the chicken and mushrooms will have risen to the top during baking. Stir thoroughly so that they are incorporated throughout the rice.

Garnish with chopped scallions and serve with extra soy sauce and chili garlic sauce, if desired.

Makes about 6 servings.