Savour the lighter flavours of Cantonese-style claypot rice or ‘bo zai fan’ at Kota Damansara’s CantonTable and Desa Kepong’s Yat Gor Claypot Rice

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — In Hong Kong and Guangzhou, Cantonese-style claypot rice or what they call bo zai fan is best eaten during wintertime to keep you warm during those chilly nights.

It’s found a home in Malaysia where we’re used to eating piping hot claypot chicken rice, straight from the burning coals, no matter how hot the sun is shining.

Usually it’s popular at night but some places open during the day, as it’s the perfect one-pot sustenance.

Bo zai fan has many variations, unlike claypot chicken rice, which is almost always a standard offering of marinated chicken with add-ons like salted fish, waxed sausage or even an egg.

Those who prefer the stronger, saltier, and sweeter flavours found in local claypot chicken rice may find this version of claypot rice tasteless.

Their sauce is a lighter version that uses loh chau or aged soy sauce which has a thinner consistency.

This is a marked difference from our local dark soy sauce, which is sweeter and thicker because it uses caramel, made with either sugar or molasses.

CantonTable (left) sits on a busy road inside Kota Damansara’s square. Look for Katering OnSum (right) for Yat Gor Claypot Rice at Desa Kepong’Gi Square. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Two restaurants under the same owner — one in Desa Kepong and another in Kota Damansara, covering Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya — are introducing the joys of these one-pot meals.

Each portion is enough for one very hungry person or it can be shared between two small eaters.

Both locations are in areas where parking is hard to find; hence, they rely heavily on deliveries.

It pays to visit the outlets if you can since you can customise your order like insisting they cook the rice longer for a more pronounced crust.

Crust can also be found at the bottom of the claypot (left). Their Soul Sauce (right) infuses every pot with its secret combination of sauces to give it flavour. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

CantonTable is much newer and what’s interesting is they display the provenance of the ingredients that go into their claypot rice, like the Thai jasmine rice, eggs, lap cheong, an unusual mui choy lap cheong and air-dried cured pork.

The waxed meats can also be purchased separately, along with Cantonese style sweet vinegar and homemade Hakka yellow wine.

Menu choices include proteins like boneless chicken drumstick, lap mei (various options including a liver one), pork patty (called pork meat pie on the menu), pork belly, sliced beef and even Japanese unagi.

For those who miss the local claypot chicken rice, opt for the Mushroom Boneless Chicken Drumstick with a side order of salted fish and ‘lap cheong’. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Different flavours can be selected such as salted fish (they use mui heong salted fish), olive vegetable, a fragrant Japanese salty scallion sauce, mala, barbecue, prawn oil, zha chai and black beans.

And if you’re paralyzed by so many choices, just try the Lucky Box, where a random flavour will be selected for you.

Go for anything with salted fish; it will be top-notch as it perfumes the Salted Fish Pork Belly and Lap Mei (RM21.80), Salted Fish Pork Meat Pie (RM16.80) or the Mushroom Boneless Chicken (RM16.80) as an add-on.

The combination of beef and egg is a Hong Kong classic using minced beef, but this place prefers sliced beef. For a punchy flavour, go for the Japanese Style Salty Scallion Sauce Beef and Egg (RM20.80).

Japanese Style Salty Scallion Sauce Beef and Egg has a punchy flavour with the chopped scallions. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

The claypot rice arrives plain so drizzle over their quirkily named Soul Sauce — their secret combination of light soy sauce and aged soy sauce — for that much needed final touch to flavour it.

Drizzle it on the side of the claypot so the sauce reaches the bottom.

And if you want a crust, leave the bottom untouched first, allowing it to form with residual heat.

The restaurant tries to cater to local tastes by offering sliced chillies too, since most diners like a bit of spiciness with their rice.

There’s also porridge on the menu but most diners opt for the rice.

Salted Fish Pork Meat Pie Claypot Rice is a simple meal with minced pork. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

The Desa Kepong branch also offers silky homemade cheong fun, using freshly ground rice milk. It’s also available at Kota Damansara but their machine is under repair at the moment.

Minced Pork & Egg Cheong Fun (RM10.80) was slippery smooth sheets with soy sauce; it’s a great appetiser while you wait for your claypot rice, which takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

There are soups to accompany your claypot rice and both outlets offer different ones.

Slippery smooth Minced Pork and Egg Cheung Fun is made from freshly ground rice milk. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

The soups are double steamed in small pots, yielding flavorful broths in Desa Kepong but the Kota Damansara outlet prefers to boil the soup which falls short compared to the superior steamed-in-a-pot method.

For delivery, the cooked rice with your chosen topping is encased in a foil bowl to seal in the heat. For a piping hot rice, just reheat it and you’re good to go.

In Kepong, the soup is steamed in small pots, which produces concentrated flavours (left). Watercress Pork Rib Soup (right) is boiled in the Kota Damansara outlet that has a lighter flavour. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi