'Laap Mei Fan' in the Donabe

The stomach wasn't feeling very well that day. Instead of heading out for dinner with Smol Girl while the man went to a death metal gig, I decided to stay in for dinner. Didn't bother to get takeout either. I had a craving for fluffy rice with vegetables and lupcheong. Got 'em ingredients and also shiitake. Those would lend more flavors. So I whipped up dinner for one! And still had a bowl leftover for the next day.

I didn't put any salt in the mix. I wasn't in the mood for salt tonight and figured that the lupcheong would salt it evenly to the levels I wanted. I wanted a light and clean meal... which is an oxymoron with lupcheong. But hey, I like it. Heh. The rice was lightly browned at the bottom. Yay! Although I intentionally didn't want it to be browned further. Is this legit claypot rice (煲仔飯)???! #ImpieCooks2023

Hmmm. This is an experiment. I'll continue to do laap mei fan / 臘味飯 / 'claypot rice' in the cast iron Staub, especially if I want the brown bits at the bottom. The Staub is hardier and deals better with burnt bits. It isn't difficult to do this in the cast iron pot since it locks in the steam equally well. I'm used to boiling up rice in pots anyway. I don't really want to burn up this gorgeous double-lidded donabe for it. I shall keep the donabe pristine for fuwa-fuwa rice only. 

Now, if you put vegetables into the donabe to cook together, put the bare minimum and for flavoring only. That was what I did. Otherwise, those leafy greens would be steamed yellow and mushy, and become rather inedible. Shiitake can take the heat, so no issues. The lovely homegrown bok choi that accompanied my bowl was separately blanched, then placed in the donabe for five minutes before serving.