aka 生炒臘味糯米飯 (san-chao-lap-mei-lo-mai-faan). Savoury sticky rice that’s packed with flavour and simple delicious ingredients. A staple for Chinese New Year, and also seen in dim sum restaurants!
THIS is the real authentic way to cook Chinese sticky rice – by cooking it the traditional way over the stove top in a wok/non stick skillet, so kindly hide away your rice cooker today, because this traditional way tastes so much better than the rice cooker method. The Chinese name for this dish is called: 生炒臘味糯米飯. 生炒 (san-chao) translates to stir frying it from scratch. Hence, THE TRADITIONAL WAY IS ALWAYS THE WAY TO GO IN TERMS OF TASTE, as it produces the perfect moisture, not too mushy, and the rice doesn’t end up way too sticky, compared to if you were to make this with a rice cooker.
The rice should be sticky, but not too sticky (giant clumps). When you bite into the rice, there should still be some form of texture – soft but not overly soft.
How to make it PERFECT:
- Soak the glutinous rice for 3-4 hours. Don’t go past that or else the rice will turn out too soft when it’s done.
- When the rice is in the pan coated in the oils, add a little (about 2 tbsp) of the dried shrimp stock (use chicken stock or water if you run out), stir, and cover with a lid to steam for 2-3 minutes. Repeat this process until the rice is cooked through. (I think of this as the Chinese version of risotto).
- Be patient! I always say: “GOOD FOOD TAKES TIME”. Keep on stir frying the rice using the above step (the rice will be cooked thoroughly pretty soon).
Your Asian parents are going to be IMPRESSED.
If you do try out this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and/or give it a rating! I’d also love to see your creations so don’t forget to tag me on Instagram!
Authentic Chinese Sticky Rice
Ingredients
- 300 g uncooked glutinous rice
- 5 Chinese mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms
- 2 tbsp dried shrimps + 150ml water
- 100 g Chinese bacon (lap yuk)
- 2 Chinese sausages (lap cheong)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 shallots (minced)
- 3 green onions (chopped)
Sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- ½ tsp sugar
Topping
- Thin egg strips
- Chopped green onion
Instructions
Prepping
- Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour hot water over them and cover with a plate to let them fully submerge and reconstitute to their full size, this should take around 45 minutes. You can also soak them overnight in cold water as well. Then, cut and discard the stems. Dice up the mushrooms.
- Soak the uncooked glutinous rice in water for 3-4 hours. Drain and set aside.
- Soak the dried shrimp in water for 30 minutes and SAVE THAT WATER FOR LATER. Then dice them.
- In a saucepan with boiling water, cook the Chinese bacon and sausage for 2 minutes, take out and rinse under running water (this step helps to remove the impurities that’s hard to remove). Then dice them both up.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Assembling
- In a heated wok or large skillet, add in the oil.
- Add in the diced Chinese bacon and sausage and cook to let the fats release from the meat.
- Then add in the Chinese mushrooms, dried shrimp, and shallots. Give it a good mix.
- Mix in the drained glutinous rice and let it coat in the oils.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add a little of that reserved water from soaking the dried shrimp (about 2 tbsp), stir, and cover with a lid and let it steam for 2-3 minutes. Repeat this process for about 25-30 minutes. If you run out of stock, you can use chicken stock or water.
- Test if the rice is fully cooked, if it is, add the sauce and chopped scallions and stir fry everything together.
- Plate, and top with the toppings. Enjoy!
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