Inexpensive, rustic-looking Chinese sand pots (also called clay pots), which are coated inside with a dark, shiny glaze, are great for slow-cooked dishes. They look as if they would break easily but they're actually quite sturdy, as long as you don't shock them with sudden and extreme temperature changes. Never heat an empty pot, start the cooking over a low flame, don't attempt to deep-fry in them and don't put hot pots on a cold surface.
Sand-pot vendors should have a bucket of water near their wares. Immerse your chosen pot in the water: if a steady stream of small bubbles rises from cracks and imperfections, reject it.
Bo jai fan with spare ribs and black beans (pictured)
At the first sign of cool weather, many restaurants, from inexpensive dai pai dongs to more upmarket places, start serving bo jai fan, with toppings ranging from Chinese air-dried meats such as laap cheung and yuen cheung (sausage and liver sausage) to minced pork with salted fish. Rice cooked this way is very flavourful because it's seasoned by the ingredients steaming on top, and because of the smokiness from the rice crust that forms at the bottom of the pot.
For this dish, it's important to pick a pot that's the correct size - if the pot is too large, the rice will be dry; if it's too small the rice will be soggy because the liquid won't evaporate. For this amount of ingredients (for two people) I use a pot that holds about 800ml of liquid.
The amounts can be adjusted for more people but use a proportionally larger pot.
200 grams long-grain rice
