Sizzling chicken claypot

Ingredientsserves 4

Method

1. Toss the chicken with the light soy, a teaspoon of oyster sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, the wine, white pepper and starch, fold in the sesame oil last, and marinate twenty minutes. Mix the chu hou paste, bean paste, the remaining oyster sauce and sugar, the dark soy and three tablespoons of water into a sauce.
2. Put the empty claypot over a low flame to heat slowly while you cook; if the pot is not hot enough to hiss when the food lands, it is just chicken in a pot. A claypot will not heat on induction, so heat a heavy cast-iron pot on high for three minutes instead; it sizzles the same.
3. Heat three tablespoons of oil in the wok until it smokes, lay the chicken in skin down and sear until golden and nearly cooked; lift out.
4. In the same oil fry the shallots, garlic, ginger, sand ginger and onion until the edges brown, then add the mushrooms and chilli.
5. Return the chicken, pour in the sauce and toss on high heat one to two minutes until it is glossy and the chicken is cooked through: cut the thickest piece, white all the way, no pink.
6. Tip everything into the hot claypot, spring onion and coriander on top, lid on, one minute on high so it sizzles.
7. Carry it to the table, lift the lid and splash the rose wine down the inside of the pot for the flare of aroma. Do this away from the range hood, with the lid already off, and pour rather than throw it; a very hot pot can flare.

Take care

• Chicken must be cooked through: the sear takes it most of the way and the toss in the sauce finishes it, so cut a thick piece open to check. The soy, chu hou paste and bean paste contain soy and wheat, and chu hou paste contains sesame; oyster sauce contains mollusc (oyster). The wine splash at the table is a flame risk: lift the lid first, keep away from the range hood, and pour rather than throw it.

The story

The name is the sound of the pot. This is dai pai dong and Cantonese restaurant cooking from the 1980s on, built for the hiss and the smell of wine hitting a red-hot claypot at the table; HK01 calls it a fixture of the dai pai dong and the Chinese restaurant. It came home when the claypot did, and it stays a weekend dish because the wok and the pot both have to be going.

Same technique

Claypot rice with cured meatsClaypot rice with beef and eggClaypot rice with chicken and mushroom

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.