Savoury Chinese sticky rice

Adapted from the Nuo Mi Fan 糯米饭 (Chinese Sticky Rice) recipe on the Make Food. Eat Food. YouTube channel.

I've always liked Chinese sausage (which I grew up knowing as "wind dried sausage"), and that and the other flavours combine quite well in this dish. It's also pretty quick and simple to make.

Makes 3 servings.

Ingredients

• Dried shrimp, ¼ cup, rough chopped
• Spring onion, 1 green and white parts separated and chopped
• Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
• Chinese sausages (lap cheong), 2, diagonally sliced
• Dried shiitake mushrooms, ½ cup, rehydrated in 2 cups of hot water
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp
• Sticky rice (glutinous rice), 1 cup, washed, soaked and drained

for the sauce

• Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine), 2 tbsp
• Soy sauce, 2 tbsp
• Oyster sauce, ½ tbsp
• Sesame oil, 1 tsp
• Salt, ½ tsp
• White pepper, a dash or 2

You can either cook the rice in a rice-cooker, or in the same pan you use to initially fry the flavourings (Chinese sausage, etc). In the latter case, it would be better to use a saucepan rather than a frying pan.

Preparation.

Wash rice. Wash it until water runs clear.

Soak rice. Soak washed rice in clean water for 1 hour. Then drain the water.

Rehydrate dried mushrooms. In 2 cups of hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and mince. Set aside. Reserve the soaking liquid.

Cook the flavourings.

Heat sesame oil over medium high heat.

Sauté garlic and white parts of the spring onion until fragrant.

Add sliced Chinese sausage and fry for 1 minute.

Add chopped shrimp and mushrooms and fry for 1 minute.

Pour in the sauce ingredients and cook for 2 minutes. 

Cook the rice with the flavourings.

Turn off heat and add the drained rice. Stir to evenly distribute.

If you're going to use a rice cooker, transfer the rice mix into it. Pour the mushroom soaking liquid in with the rice mix. (It should just cover the rice. If it doesn't, you can add some water or chicken stock).

For cooking the rice in a rice cooker, do so according to the cooker's settings.

For cooking the rice in a saucepan. Use a moderate temperature initially, to bring it up to a vigorous simmer, and then turn the heat to lower so the rice gently cooks. Cover the pan with a lid, but leave a bit of a gap so some of the moisture can escape. It'll probably take about 20-25 minutes to cook. It'll be done when there's no liquid at the bottom of the pan.

 

Serve.

Dish out and garnish with the chopped green parts of the spring onion.

Note: to reheat, sprinkle a little water over the rice and reheat in the microwave for a minute or two.