From My Kitchen: Hung’s Clay Pot Rice

Every once in a while I love to feature and highlight one of the recipes of one of my beloved Top Chef Contestants, and here is a good one! Chef Hung Huynh is a Vietnamese chef that ended up winning season 3. He stayed very low key after that, for the most part. When I came across this recipe of his, I HAD to cook it! You should now that A) I don’t have a clay pot, so cooking it in a regular pot worked just fine, and B) the recipe calls for ginkgo nuts, which I found impossible to find, so I replaced them with cashews. It still turned out super delicous. Happy cooking!

What you’ll need:

  • 1 cup short grain rice
  • 2 oz shiitake mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 scallions, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tbs plus 1 tsp soy sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 thick slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch dice
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
  • 1/2 cup ginkgo nuts (I used cashews instead)
  • 1 cup water

In a bowl, cover the rice with water and let the rice soak for about one hour. Drain.

In another bowl, toss the mushrooms and scallions with 1 tbsp of soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Marinate for 10 minutes.

In a clay pot or medium pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and ginger, cook, while stirring, for another minute. Add the soaked rice and stir to coat with the fat.

Add the nuts, marinated mushrooms and scallions, the water, and 1 tsp of soy sauce. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Drizzle oil around the edge of the pot, so it runs down the insides. Cover the pot and cook the rice over low heat until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Raise the heat to high and cook the rice, covered, until it’s sizzling and a crust forms on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it stand, covered, for about 5 minutes. Fluff the rice and serve.

Bon Appétit!

Author: Gotham Foodie

Hello there, fellow foodies! My name is Erica, I was born and raised in Germany, and moved to the US, New York City to be exact, in July of 1987. I have worked most of my time here in the Big Apple as a bartender, but my true love is food. I cook just about every day, I search for good food everywhere, and pretty much always find it. I don't consider myself a food critic, I don't have the culinary background for that kind of expertise. I do however know good food, good chefs and good restaurants. I report back about my culinary adventures, and I choose to leave out my unsatisfactory experiences. We have enough negativity in our daily lives, I don't want to add to that. All the recipes in my FROM MY KITCHEN and DOTW blogs are cooked and prepared by me. All pictures are taken by me. I don't always eat everything you see in my pictures, but you bet your buns, I do try everything. Last but not least, you should know that I am a huge Top Chef fan. I have never missed an episode of the Bravo TV show. I have at this point visited almost 20 restaurants run by Top Chef contestants, and I'm continuously impressed by their skill, drive and passion. So I will continue to seek them out, and I hope you join me in my journey!

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