chinese sticky rice

Chinese sticky rice (臘味糯米飯, laap mei lor mai faan in Cantonese) is a savoury, fragrant rice dish packed with umami and is super addictive. You would see this dish in most dim sum restaurants. But this dish is not to be confused with sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, lo mai gai, as lo mai gai consists of chicken and other ingredients, and it generally more complex to make.

The traditional way of making Chinese sticky rice is to stir-fry uncooked glutinous rice in a wok, with constant stirring while periodically adding more cooking oil, similar to how risotto is made. However, this recipe will not be so time-consuming and oily, as we will cook the glutinous rice in a rice cooker. The only time-consuming part would be soaking the rice and rehydrating the mushrooms and shrimp. But this should not be an issue if you let it sit overnight, and do the cooking the next day.

ingredients for making chinese sticky rice:

• 2 cups glutinous rice*
• 2 Chinese sausages, diced into small pieces
• 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms, diced into small pieces
• ¼ cup dried shrimp
• 2 shallots, diced into small pieces
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 chopped scallions, for garnish
• a handful of coriander, for garnish

rice marinade:

• 1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

non-negotiable ingredients:

• Three ingredients that I highly recommend you use and not substitute for this recipe are: Chinese sausage, dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp.
• These three ingredients are the key to the aromatic and umami flavour to this dish. Dried mushroom and shrimp are preferred over fresh, because the dried version brings a more rich and concentrated flavour once rehydrated.

what is glutinous rice?

• Glutinous rice, also known as sticky rice or Thai sticky rice, is a type of rice that has a soft, chewy and sticky texture. You can find this in almost any Asian supermarkets. A lot of Asian recipes use glutinous rice, such as lo mai gai (Chinese sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves), Thai mango sticky rice, or mochi desserts.
• When using glutinous rice, you must soak the rice overnight or for at least 2-3 hours. This is because glutinous rice has a hard exterior compared to regular rice. Soaking it softens the outer layer and ensures moisture absorbs into the grains, which ensures that you get a chewy, soft and tender texture when you steam or boil the rice.

steps:

overnight preparation:

1. Wash your glutinous rice 3-4 times to get rid of excess starch, then soak in clean water overnight (or for at least 3 hours if you are short on time)
2. Rinse and soak dried mushrooms and dried shrimp in clean water overnight (or for at least 30 minutes). We will keep the mushroom water (1.5 cups) for later use.

cook:

1. Drain the rice water and marinate the rice while we prepare the other ingredients. Make sure each grain is well coated with the marinade.
2. Dice the shiitake mushroom, Chinese sausage, shallots, coriander and scallions into small pieces.
3. Heat ½ tbsp oil on a wok/ frying pan on high heat, then add Chinese sausage and stir-fry until aromatic. Then throw in the shrimp, mushrooms and shallots and stir-fry for 1-2 mins until fragrant.
4. In a rice cooker, add your marinated glutinous rice, stir-fried ingredients and mushroom water. Then cook using the regular white rice cooking setting.
5. Once done, keep the lid covered to steam the rice for an extra 10 mins before serving with garnish. Enjoy!

tips:

1. Soak the glutinous rice for at least 3 hours or overnight. Glutinous rice has a hard exterior compared to regular white rice, so soaking it for a couple hours softens the outer layer and ensures that the grains absorb moisture evenly, giving it its chewy and tender texture when you cook it.
2. Dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp also need to be soaked and rehydrated. If you don’t want to soak it overnight, you can soak it using hot water for about 45 minutes.

more sticky rice recipes:

• Brown sugar fried mochi

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