Claypot chicken rice is one of those Chinese food that is more popular in this region than most parts of China. With the preparation method that involves charcoal and claypot, it is also something that is usually consumed outside rather than home cooked. (though I’ve made similar style chicken rice at home)
A meal involving claypot chicken rice usually takes quite a bit longer than usual due to the time it takes to have the rice to cook, so it was fitting that we went to Huen Kee on a Friday 2-hour lunch break.
claypot chicken rice at Huen Kee, with charcoal on top!
Huen Kee has been in operation for well over a decade, and they have a little secret in cooking that I’ve seldom seen anywhere else – by utilizing charcoal from both bottom and top of the pot! This ensures a faster cooking time as well as a more even heat distribution on the rice, brilliant.
claypot chicken rice, pork tripe soup, seafood tofu, vegetable
The chicken rice came with a separate serving of salted fish (if you asks for it), and has generation portion of chicken and Chinese sausage in the pretty strongly flavored rice that carries a hint of rice wine.
The aroma that exudes out from the pot as you mix the ingredients had me licking my lips before digging in, and the taste did not disappoint at all, it was one of the best claypot chicken rice I’ve had.
menu and price list at Huen Kee
Other than chicken rice, we had pork tripe soup (spicy and offer a good contrasting taste to chicken), their signature seafood tofu (above average, but I prefer the one at Peter’s curry fish head), and some oily vegetable (for color and .. vitamin)
The claypot chicken rice is priced from RM 9, RM 16, and RM 22 according to size, and they also sell waxed duck rice, chicken with rice wine soup, and even curry fish head too.
Address:
Huen Kee claypot chicken rice
59, Ground Floor,
Jalan Yew, Pudu,
Kuala Lumpur,
Wilayah Persekutuan 55100
GPS: 3.13392, 101.71664
Tel: 03-9200 1603
This is easily one of my favorite dishes from mom when I was young. Every time mom made her signature chicken rice, I would take a second serving. I think if she had made this more often, perhaps I’d be 6 foot tall and weigh 80kg with pure muscle (or more likely, same height with extra 20kg fat)
awesome home cook chicken rice with chinese sausage
The ingredients are quite close to claypot chicken rice, but with a few extras that you typically wouldn’t find at hawker center.
While it does take a few extra steps to prepare, this isn’t a dish that is difficult to make at all, or have ingredients that are hard to source even if you aren’t reside in Malaysia (and crave for that claypot chicken rice). Here’s the recipe.
home cook chicken rice ingredients – chicken, mushroom, chinese sausage
The ingredients (for 2 pax):
fry the rice and ingredients, then continue in rice cooker
You do need both a frying pan and rice cooker to make this dish, but no, there’s no clay pot or charcoal flame needed in this case.
Instructions:
prepare the condiments – fried shallots and spring onion
While waiting for the rice to cook, prepare some fried shallots and chopped some fresh green onion as garnish. They will greatly add to the overall flavor and texture to the chicken rice dish.
One or two stalks of green onion and a couple shallots would be enough.
haze enjoying the chicken rice with ABC soup
The result is two plates of absolutely delicious home cook chicken rice prepared only in around one hour or so. The dish is best accompanied with some clear soup (ABC, radish soup, etc). Optionally, you can also add some salted fish on top, I would if I had some good quality ones to go with.
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One of my regular dinner/supper places is at the mamak square of SS2. Unlike many other mamak places, this square offers Malay, Chinese, and Mamak food altogether, and as a matter of mutual respect, serves pork free food all around.
Nan An Ah Seng 南安阿成 chicken rice at SS2 Mamak Square
Tucked at the corner of the square is one of my favorite chicken rice stalls around town – Nan An Ah Seng chicken rice.
Unlike most other chicken rice stalls, this one only serves steamed chicken (with limited chicken gizzards and liver) and bean sprouts. You’re out of luck if you are looking for roast chicken, roast pork, or bbq pork here.
steamed chicken and bean sprouts
There isn’t much to describe about chicken rice I guess, the steamed chicken you find here is basically one of the smoothest you can get anywhere. The sauce is a bit thicker than the usual soya sauce + oil mixture, the version here has a hint of oyster sauce.
The chili also carries a good kick too.
Haze and KY at SS2 Mamak
A plate of chicken rice goes for about RM 4.50 and the stall operates from dinner to super late supper time (around 1 in the morning).
Other than chicken rice, the Ramli Burger and Ah Leong fried rice here are awesome too.
Address:
Jalan SS 2/60
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117558, 101.622323
PJ is one of the oldest townships in Klang Valley with it’s oldest part aptly called Old Town. In this part of the valley, you can find quite a number of eateries older folks are familiar with.
As a general rule of thumb, older establishments that withstood the test of time usually offers better foods, which is why once in a while we’d head to the food court at PJ old town for some good old fashion hawker food.
sting ray curry, vinegar pork, and chicken rice
The last time we went was a few weeks ago, and this time around we ordered the curry fish from Gerai Seong Kee. There were a few types of fish to choose from, we ordered a big clay pot of stingray curry mainly due to the lack of hazard in fish bones.
I almost always choose stingray when it comes to ikan bakar as well. It’s just a lot easier, not to mention the fact that I actually love the way it tastes.
clay pot stingray curry fish from Seong Kee
Rather than ordering white rice to go with the curry fish, we got a serving of pork knuckle with vinegar and a plate of roast pork and roast chicken from Kie Kee chicken rice. This way, we get to have four different dishes with chicken rice instead of plain tasting normal steamed rice.
The concept is pretty much like how you’d dine in a Tai Chow place, except this is actually a food court.
roast chicken, roast pork, and pork knuckle with vinegar from Kie Kee
As it turned out, the rich and creamy santan based curry fish actually does go very well with chicken rice. Combination of cabbage, brinjal, ladies finger and that soft silky stingray meat mixes well with the slightly oily rice.
The pork knuckle was fatty and quite strong tasting, just the way I like it. The best thing is, alternating the few dishes ensures that your palate doesn’t go dull by having the same taste throughout the entire meal. It was good.
Best of all, the lunch session didn’t exactly cost us an arm and a leg, it’s in a food court after all. However, the serving from Kie Kee seems to be getting smaller and smaller while the price basically remains rather cheap. I guess you can’t escape from inflation after all.
Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948
After writing about the New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice, I got a comment from Mellissa saying that I was conned and that the real deal is at Restaurant Satellite Chicken Rice right next door to the former. Which only means that I gotta give this place a try since this is the lady’s grandpa’s favorite place.
So Mell and I went to the restaurant last Thursday for an early chicken rice dinner after we came back from Krabi.
Restaurant Satellite Ipoh Chicken Rice
The one thing I like about the place is the ample parking space, and since New Restaurant and Satellite basically reside next to each other, the same applies to both. So many good eating places in KL comes with nightmare parking situation (like Ngau Kei beef noodle), and I’m just glad that this one doesn’t.
We took our seats and ordered roasted & steamed chicken for two, a plate of the signature bean sprouts, and a dish of mixed chicken innards that include intestine, liver, and chicken gizzard to go with a couple plates of chicken rice. I don’t think they serve any pork (roasted or bbq) here, just good old fashion chicken rice.
roasted & steamed chicken, innards, bean sprouts, Mell & KY
As it was pretty early and the restaurant still pretty empty, our food came rather fast.
The chicken were smooth and rather tasty (I prefer the steamed), and while the chicken liver might have been slightly too cooked, the gizzard and intestine were nice and chewy in a good way. I do like the seasoning on the bean sprouts and the chili paste more than their neighbour.
The soup though, was nothing to shout about. I wish more places would serve good soup like Yat Yeh Heng chicken rice at Kelana Jaya.
Satellite Restaurant is located on Jalan Gasing, near Fed Hwy
Overall dinner was pretty satisfying, but at RM 27 (including drinks and another packet of chicken rice to go), it certainly isn’t the cheapest chicken rice around town. It’s hard to pick a “winner” between Satellite and New Restaurant, but I gotta say that this place oozes out the feel or traditional chicken rice a bit more than the ultra modern approach of New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice. You can’t go wrong with either one though.
Address:
Restaurant Satellite Ipoh Chicken Rice
103 Jalan Gasing 10/1,
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.107456, 101.65334
Tel: 03-7956 6830
