Yellow Eel "Clay Pot" Rice
I had this dish for the first time at Blue Sky Cafe and I was pleasantly delighted. The flavors are not particularly strong, but it's so satisfying without being overly heavy. I wanted to try reproducing it, but I did not have a clay pot and also didn't really want to use a dutch oven / something similar for it ... luckily smelly lunchbox actually had a recipe for this! https://smellylunchbox.com/toisan-yellow-eel-crispy-rice-no-claypot/. It doesn't quite have the same visual flair without the clay pot, but the resulting taste is almost the same -- I actually like the crispy rice from this a little bit better than directly from the clay pot since it's fried with a little bit of oil on the bottom instead of just straight up hard. Would definitely recommend giving this a try sometime! Other than obtaining the yellow eel (in a reasonably cost-efficient way), this recipe is remarkably easy to make.
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 1 hr 20 min
Ingredients
yellow eel:
> yellow eel (8 oz, pre-shredded)
> salt (1 tbsp)
> Shaoxing wine (1 tbsp)
> salt (1/4 tsp)
> chicken essence (1/4 tsp)
> white pepper (a little)
> ginger (1 inch, thinly sliced)
> garlic (3 cloves, roughly chopped)
> soy sauce (1 tbsp)
putting it all together
> rice (1.5 cup) + water (1.25 cup)
> dark soy sauce (1/4 tsp)
> sesame oil (1/2 tsp)
> scallions (2 stalks, sliced)
> neutral oil
Instructions
1. Start the rice cooker with 1.5 cups of rice and 1.25 cups of water.
2. Remove the slimy layer from the yellow eel by adding 1 tbsp salt and gently massaging. Rinse with water and drain. Slice it into smaller strips (~2 inch) and dry with a paper towel.
3. Add the marinade ingredients (Shaoxing wine, salt, chicken essence, white pepper), mix and let marinade at least ~20m.
4. Once the rice is almost ready, start preparing the yellow eel. Stir-fry ginger and garlic over medium high heat for ~1-2m. Add the marinaded eel along with any juices, continue stir-frying for ~1m. Add the soy sauce, continue stir-frying for ~1-2m.
5. Take off the heat, and once the rice is cooked (or just before it finishes cooking), top with the stir-fried eel and any remaining juices. Continue to cook or "keep warm" for ~5-10m.
6. Top the rice with dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions. Mix well.
7. (optional) In a pan / wok over medium-low heat with some neutral oil, spread out rice, cover, and let cook undisturbed for ~8-10m or until evenly golden and crispy on the bottom.
Notes/Tips:
> MAKE SURE that the yellow eel that you're using is already shredded. Originally, when I was at Ranch 99 I (inadvertently) chose to buy yellow eel that was uncooked and "whole", that is to say it still had the bone in the middle. It was practically impossible to prepare without some incredible knife skills, which I simply did not have. I chose to buy this version because it was much cheaper ($11 vs $30), the pre-shredded yellow eel was absurdly expensive. But eventually after trying and failing, I had to come back and get the pre-shredded version anyways.
> I got the same brand that smelly lunchbox used (https://smellylunchbox.com/toisan-yellow-eel-claypot-rice/), apparently they have it at SF Chinatown's New Wing Lung Food market. Maybe it's cheaper there, and I would consider getting more lol.
> At first glance, this might seem like far too little water for the amount of rice, but trust in the process, lol. For this application, you definitely want the rice to be on the drier side. Also, the eel juices will provide a little bit more liquid to it.
> The yellow eel I got was pre-cooked, if yours was not you may need to add a few minutes to the stir-frying process. Taste and adjust as needed.
> Total time for this recipe mostly just depends on how long your rice cooker takes to cook the rice. For me, it was about ~1h.