My grandmother is convinced that yellow eels over rice is good for the health and honestly when the ceramic lid was taken off the fire blacken clay pot I didn’t need much convincing to dig in. The fluffy long grain rice was cooked just right to still be firm enough to be chewy and smelled strongly of the spices that seasoned the eel meat. The deboned meat with the rich oily skin was seasoned heavily in cloves, dried citrus peel, and star anise to take most of the muddy pond scum flavor out but still leave just enough fishiness that there is no illusion that the meat was from some bottom feeder from some murky pond. The crisp fresh green onions on top gives some contrast to the pungent spices and give some green for the eyes, but the real gem of the dish is found at the bottom of the pot. The crunchy crusted rice at the bottom of the pot takes the dish one step farther, the soft crunch of little grans of charred rice gives a texture contrast like no other with the soft chewy rice on top and soft oily chunks of eel. This is a texture sensation that is a must try, the cute little clay pot is just a bonus.