Apparently this was not the usual practice when eating claypot rice because when I did the same, my colleague and some Indonesian tai-tais remarked, "Are you supposed to serve the rice this way? We usually just mix up all the chicken and rice."
I replied, "Oh, that's how my Dad does it. Maybe it's more convenient this way; you can pick the chicken when you want from the plate."
The cute tai-tais smiled, "Let me try your Dad's method."
It's funny how my Papa's little actions make him so endearing to me.