It's a winter extravaganza this month as my current craving is for anything that makes me feel warm and fuzzy. As the temperature drops, our palate favours things that are a bit more fatty and piping hot. Things that come straight to mind would be a bubbling Hotpot with fatty beef and twenty plates of CIY (cook it yourself) assortment, Claypot rice with preserved sausages and rice crackling, Yakiniku, Korean barbecue, Beef brisket, and Lamb brisket stew with beancurd sheets - yum! 

Below are some of my favourite places for hearty dishes that warm me up, plus a simple 1-2-3 recipe to beat the winter blues.

Dressing to Dine

I love the idea of when the temperature drops of piling on the thick scarf, a bulky jacket, and a pair of big boots and heading out for a bit of chilly al fresco dining. We huddle around a table and sit on flimsy stools on the sidewalk, while actively swishing that fatty piece of beef or fish puff with our chopsticks (or peek-a-boo ladle) and dipping it into a sauce we call our own before planting it in our mouth. 

Hop Hing, famous for their quality-cut beef makes the best "Sui gow" (dumplings in broth), while Fai Gor makes a phenomenal Fried beancurd sheet.

Claypot Culture

In Chinese culture, when the temperature drops, we bring out our claypots! Anything served in the claypot mentally kicks up the temperature a few notches. Kwan Kee makes the very best claypot rice, slowly cooked on long-gone charcoal stovetops. Choose amongst the wide selection of rice toppings. Common choices will be "Lap cheung" (preserved pork sausage), "Yun cheung" (preserved pork liver sausage), minced beef with a raw egg in the centre, pork spareribs, pork patty with diced Chinese preserved salted fish, frog legs, and chicken chunks with black fungus and mushrooms. 

This bustling place also serves a killer Deep fried squid and fillet "nine-stomach" fish (or Bombay duck) combo tossed in chilli salt; another must is their peppery Pork bone soup pot, perfect for a group of three or more. Place your rice order immediately, sometimes before you get your table, as it takes a good 40 minutes for the rice to cook. Munch on the other goodies in the meantime, but make sure to reserve room for your yummy pot of rice. If you are patient, let the rice cook a bit more in the pot with the lid on when it arrives, to make more rice "crackling". Add the sweetened soy on the table to the rice, mix everything up, and eat! 

What goes hand-in-hand with the claypot rice are strings of Lap cheung or Yun cheung. Preserved meats or "Lap mei", translated as waxed meat, are not actually waxed but preserved and salted, and are often seen hanging in the windows of Cantonese barbecue houses. Walk into Yung Kee, the godfather of roast goose, and find a wall of dangling lap mei. The most common lap mei of all will be lap cheung and yun cheung. Cased with ground pork/liver and chunks of pure pork fat. When cooked, the taste is mildly sweet, with a waxy and fatty flavour, the sausage becomes juicy and tender. The taste is almost indescribable. The juices and fat of the sausage run onto the rice while cooking, and perfumes the rice with its oils. Steam it on rice to knock up the plain white granules. Gosh, I'm salivating as I write. I have included a recipe below. 

What's for Lunch?

Congee is what I crave for lunch on those days when the temperature drops below 15. Something about the heartiness and its piping hot character make me want it so much. My favourite congee is at Tasty, the Happy Valley branch, while others say their favourite is Sang Kee. Tasty's congee base is very, very flavourful, and its texture is impeccably gluey and smooth. Order their crisp but chewy "Yau tiew" (fried dough sticks) to dunk into the congee. Sang Kee is famous for their fish belly congee, which is a bit too heavy for me.

"San Chow Lo Mai Fan", fried glutinous rice with diced preserved meats, dried shrimp, and sometimes a few more additions is another winter favourite. The old fashion way is to fry the raw rice with lard from raw to cooked, but because of the labour intensity and health consciousness, it's rarely practiced anymore. Most places cook the rice halfway then stir-fry to save time and arm work; the rice is softer, mushier and sticks together. My husband likes to go to this street stall in Wanchai called Keung Kee which sells Tong sui (sweet soup dessert) on a cart and fried Cheung fun (rice noodle) for a good fix of Lo Mai Fan. 

It was a fluke that we ended up in Cheung's Restaurant, where we enjoyed an authentic San Chow Lo Mai Fan, pork fat and all. The rice was firm and pronounced, it glistened with shine - an original. Although we felt a little guilty downing this dish, we couldn't resist as it was unusually aromatic.

Recipe: Home-style Rice with Preserved Sausage

This recipe is as simple as 1-2-3.

1.Cut off the string that attaches the sausages (use one or more varieties). Wash and set aside. Allow one sausage of each variety per person. 2.*Wash rice and cook as usual. When rice cooker starts to let out steam, lay the sausages on the rice. Close the cover and allow the rice to continue cooking. This allows the fat and juices to run onto the rice. 3. Allow the rice to steam in the cooker 10 minutes longer after the rice cooker signals cooked. Open the cover and take out the sausages with a pair of thongs. Slice sausages diagonally and to desired thinness/thickness and length. Mix the rice with the rice paddle to equally distribute the oils and juices. Replace the cut sausages and mix with the rice again, or serve it on the side. 

Optional

4. If you like rice crackling, place the cooked rice only on an oiled wok or pan on med. to low heat and cover for 10 minutes while checking periodically to prevent burning. Break up the cracking and mix well with the rice, or if you prefer, break into large pieces.

Enjoy!

**(For additional flavour, you can drizzle with sweetened soy to complement)

Tip: *You may want to slightly lessen the amount of water added to the rice as the oils and juices may add moisture to the cooking rice.

**Can find sweetened soya sauce in all major grocers. Look for the big brands, and labeled for Claypot rice, Sweetened Soy, or Dim Sum Soy.

Keung Kee 強記美食, G/F, 382 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai