Grilled Xinjiang-Style Lamb Rib Chops (新疆燒烤羊扒, San1 Goeng1 Siu1 Haau1 Joeng4 Paa4)

This recipe was updated on 11 Apr 2015. Some ingredient quantities and instructions were updated.

This recipe was adapted from that published in Saveur Magazine, June/July 2013 issue in the article, “Fire in the Belly”. The original recipe was for lamb skewers. The spice paste, consisting of red chili flakes, cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, and oyster sauce would go well with any meat. I happen to have two racks of lamb in my freezer, so it made sense to use them instead of making skewers with lamb shoulder as called for in the original recipe. The article makes the point that a very hot fire is used for cooking, so I piled the charcoal into one-half of the grill to place the coals as close to the grill surface as possible. You may have to decrease the cooking time depending upon the heat of your grill. Cooking time is fast for medium-rare rib chops, so be careful not to overcook the lamb.

 

Enjoy!

Grilled Miso Garlic T-Bone Steak

This dish was adapted from a Saveur Magazine website (saveur.com) recipe, Garlic and Red Miso Porterhouse. While I didn’t use red miso paste because I had the brown version in my refrigerator, I used more garlic than I normally use in a marinade. I also added sake to the marinade, which was not in the original recipe. This was a tasty and easy way to grill a steak, and the marinade would work with other meats.

Enjoy!

Beef Heart with Bell Peppers (青椒牛心, Ceng1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Sam1)

This recipe was updated on 12 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Not only was this an opportunity to use the first bell peppers from my garden, it was also the first time I’ve ever used beef hearts in a dish. It was one of those irresistible urges once I saw beef heart slices available for the first time in my local supermarket. Not knowing what they taste like, I used a basic marinade to prepare and then to sauce the dish. Since the heart is a huge muscle, it does not taste like organ meat, but has an understated (in my opinion) beef taste. I liken the texture to chicken gizzards, but with a little more crunch in the mouth. I have to say that I like eating beef hearts and would gladly prepare another dish using it (I’m thinking that a noodle dish is in order).

Enjoy!

Chicken and Bell Peppers with Hong Kong Noodles (青椒鷄雲吞麵, Ceng1 Ziu1 Gai1 Wan4 Tan1 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 06 Jun 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This noodle dish uses a simple soy sauce based sauce for flavor, with dark soy sauce giving the dish its deep color. You should be able to get dark soy sauce at your local Asian market. The chicken and vegetables are cut into same sized strips which makes for a quick cooking dish.

Enjoy!

Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (Haam4 Jyu4 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6, 鹹魚蒸豬肉)

This recipe was updated on 02 Aug 2013. Some instructions were changed.

Steamed pork is a dish I grew up eating and all Chinese Moms have a recipe for this dish. Steamed pork is usually never the only ingredient used in making this dish and there are innumerable recipe variations for additions. There is another recipe for Steamed Pork with Salted Duck Egg (Haam4 Aap3 Daan6 Zing1 Zyu1 Juk6, 鹹鴨蛋蒸豬肉).

This version uses salted fish, whose saltiness goes well with the savory pork flavor, and is an acquired taste. Salted fish is made by salting a whole fish and drying it in the sun. You can still buy salted fish at your local Asian market, but you can also get salted fish preserved in oil in a bottle. I prefer the bottled version since it stores easily and there is no fishy smell since the fish is immersed in oil.

On the surface, this seems like an easy dish to make. If this dish is prepared correctly, the steamed ground pork has a tender mouth feel when eaten. I have found, through many attempts, that if you add 1 Tbs. (15 ml.) per ½ lb. (250 g.), together with the other marinade ingredients, you get the desired result. Previously attempts that didn’t work used ground pork with more and less fat content, ground pork with small and large grind, and other binders (tapioca and rice starch).

Enjoy!

Scallops with Sugar Snap Peas (蜜豆帶子, Mat6 Dau6 Daai3 Zi2)

This recipe was updated on 18 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

Scallops are always a treat to eat. Frozen 60/80 scallops were used for this dish, meaning that there are 60-80 scallops per pound (500 g.). You can use larger scallops, but the 60/80’s are readily available at my local Asian market. If you can get fresh scallops, that’s always best and the dish will taste even better.

Whole coin mushrooms were used to make this dish. This type of Shiitake mushroom is so named because of the size resemblance to large coins and is available at your local Asian market. Regular Shiitake mushrooms, cut into pieces, can be substituted if the coin mushrooms are not available.

Enjoy!

Hot Bean Sauce Fish with Asparagus (辣豆辦醬蘆筍斑腩, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Lou4 Seon2 Baan1 Naam5)

 

This recipe was updated on 12 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Fish fillets in hot bean sauce is a classic Chinese dish and using asparagus is a Western addition to the dish, with Shiitake mushrooms adding another flavor. I used coin mushrooms in this dish, which are small, coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms – the Cantonese translation is “Gold Coin Mushroom”. If coin mushrooms are not available at your local Asian market, just use regular Shiitake mushrooms cut into pieces.

The root end of the asparagus has a tough skin. The usual advice is to take the root end of the asparagus in one hand and the tip end with the other, snap the asparagus (it breaks at the natural tough-tender skin boundary), and discard the root end and use the tip end. However that results in a lot of waste (in my opinion) since the center of the root end is still tender and edible, it’s just the skin that’s tough. So I’ve found that if you use a vegetable peeler, you can remove the tough outer skin and use the entire asparagus stalk. It takes some practice to just remove the asparagus’ tough skin. My first efforts using a vegetable peeler resulted in breaking the stalks and/or peeling too much of the asparagus at the root end, so I had some odd looking asparagus pieces. I’ve tried using a knife to remove the skin, but I’ve found that with practice the vegetable peeler removes less of the asparagus stalk root end’s tender center.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Fried Tofu with Chive Buds (韭菜花油炸豆腐鷄, Gau2 Coi3 Faa1 Jau4 Zaa3 Dau6 Fu6 Gai1)

This recipe was updated on 17 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Chive buds make this dish attractive looking and tasty. Chive buds are available at your local Asian market, and you can also use garlic buds (another somewhat expensive ingredient) to make this dish, although the dish will have a different flavor.

Enjoy!

Bacon, Egg, and Peanut Butter Sandwich

I have to admit that this is a weird concoction, but it is a tasty sandwich. It’s the result of my love for chunky peanut butter, eggs, and bacon. In the USA, peanut butter (I use no-salt chunky peanut butter) is a common ingredient, but for other parts of the world, it’s an acquired taste. The saltiness of the bacon helps to make this dish tasty and I used turkey bacon, which has less fat than the pork version. I used garlic bread (bread baked with garlic cloves) for added flavor, but sourdough or any other dense bread will work. Try making this and you’ll probably be smiling like me while eating this sandwich.

Enjoy!

Chili Lemongrass Shrimp with Sugar Snap Peas (辣椒檸檬葉蜜豆蝦, Laat6 Ziu1 Ning4 Mung4 Jip6 Mat6 Dau6 Haa1)

 

This recipe was updated on 06 Nov 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Lemongrass was available at my local farmer’s market and I couldn’t resist buying it. Like its name, lemongrass has a lemon flavor and looks like a long (about 2 ft. or 60 cm.) thick green stalk of grass. The outer leaves are tough and inedible, so you have to remove the outer layers to reveal the softer inner core, which is edible and a small part of the stalk near the root. The inner core is sliced finely and stir fried with dried red peppers to flavor the oil used in this shrimp dish. Sugar snap peas add the crunch to this dish. Depending upon your tolerance for heat, you can use more or less red chili peppers.

Enjoy!

Basil Shrimp and Italian Sausage Pasta

I actually cook my pasta dishes like I make chow mein – stir frying. In my mind, the technique to make pasta or chow mein is the same, the only differences being the ingredients and the use of a tomato based sauce (usually a bottled pasta sauce). For this dish, shrimp is paired with Italian sausage, since pork and shrimp make a great taste combination. To add more flavor, fresh basil leaves are added at the end of cooking. Top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired. Serve with Garlic Garlic Bread (the recipe can be found here).

Enjoy!

Steamed Pork Baby Back Ribs with Shrimp Sauce (幼滑蝦醬蒸排骨, Jau3 Waat6 Haa1 Zoeng3 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

This recipe was updated on 19 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Shrimp sauce, consisting of ground fermented shrimp and salt, is a funny looking, unnatural purple colored sauce, which has a distinctive taste and strong smell. However once cooked, the sauce loses the smell, but keeps its unique salty taste. When coated on with pork baby back ribs, topped with crushed garlic and ginger, and steamed, the combination tastes great. So don’t let your nose prevent you from trying this dish.

Enjoy!

Curry Scrambled Eggs with Avocado (咖哩粉鱷梨炒蛋, Gaa3 Lei1 Fan2 Ngok6 Lei4 Caau2 Daan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 13 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Madras brand curry powder is a staple in my and, I suspect, in many Chinese-American pantries. Adding curry powder to the dish is a great way to spice up scrambled eggs. I happen to have some avocado, so I also added that to the eggs as a topping to make a great breakfast. To make fluffy scrambled eggs, start by heating a cold pan or wok over medium-low to medium heat, pouring in the liquid egg solution while the pan heats up. As the eggs set, move the cooked eggs toward the center of the pan, allowing the remaining liquid eggs to be cooked in the pan. Repeat this process until no liquid remains. The dish is done when the eggs are fluffy and still look a little wet, but are not totally dry.

Enjoy!

Beef Shanghai Noodles (牛肉上海麵, Ngau4 Juk6 Soeng6 Hoi2 Min6)

This recipe was updated on 24 Oct 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Shanghai noodles are thicker than the normal chow mein noodles and have a chewy texture. As with all my noodle recipes, I recommend that you slightly burn the noodles as is done in restaurants to give the dish an added flavor. Sliced garlic is another added ingredient that makes this tasty dish.

Enjoy!

Turkey Chive Chow Mein (韭菜火雞炒麵, Gau2 Coi3 Fo2 Gai1 Caau2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 23 Oct 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

This noodle dish was made from leftovers from the Pecan Smoked Basil Oregano Turkey Thighs recipe. You can, of course, use any leftover turkey to make this dish. I happen to have had chives, but you can substitute green onions since they’re more easily available. The sauce is simple and based on oyster sauce.

Enjoy!

Pecan Smoked Basil Oregano Turkey Thighs

 

Turkey thighs are a great when they’re grilled with pecan wood. The simple marinade uses dried basil and oregano, together with lemon juice and white wine. Any leftover turkey can be used to make noodles, such as the Turkey and Chive Chow Mein (Gau² Coi³ Fo² Gai¹ Caau² Min⁶, 韭菜火雞炒麵) recipe.

Enjoy!

Lime Chili Garlic Sauce Shrimp (青檸蒜蓉辣椒酱蝦, Ceng1 Ning4 Syun3 Jung4 Laat6 Ziu1 Zoeng3 Haa1)

 

This recipe was updated on 27 Oct 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Lime juice adds a tart flavor to this spicy dish of shrimp, sugar snap peas, and baby corn. In the USA, the terms shrimp and prawn are used interchangeably and prawn usually means a large shrimp. For this dish, it doesn’t matter which one you use, since they both taste good! Chili Garlic sauce is a hot tasting prepared sauce and the amount can be adjusted to taste.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Snow Peas with Oyster Mushrooms (荷蘭豆蠔菇鷄, Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Hou4 Gu1 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 19 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

The chili sauce used in this dish is made by Sichuan Gau Fu Ji Food and is made with fresh chilies. You can use any chili sauce or omit it all together if you’re not into hot and spicy food, but you’ll be missing a great fresh chili flavor in this dish. Feel free to add more or less of the chili sauce depending upon your tolerance for heat. Snow peas provide the crunchiness to this dish and mushrooms always goes well with chicken.

Enjoy!

Cashew Asparagus Beef (腰果蘆筍牛肉, Jiu1 Gwo2 Lou4 Seon2 Ngau4 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 17 May 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Asparagus is in season again. Asparagus beef in black bean garlic sauce is a classic Cantonese-American dish. Cashews are an extra addition that goes well with this dish. I was feeling a little lazy when I made this dish, so I used bottled black bean garlic sauce to make it. Lee Kum Kee makes a really good bottled sauce in my humble opinion, and I use it whenever I don’t make the black bean sauce myself. I used the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid together with a corn starch slurry to increase the amount of sauce.

Enjoy!

Steamed Fish Fillets with Chinese Broccoli (芥蘭蒸斑腩, Gaai3 Laan4 Zing1 Baan1 Naam5)

This recipe was updated on 15 Oct 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Fish fillets are a great option for steaming since they’re easy and fast to prepare and cook. In fact the preparation time is longer than the actual cooking time. My local Asian market happened to have Rockfish fillets on sale, so they were the choice for this dish, but you can use any firm white-flesh fish. The recipe is very similar to the previously posted Steamed Fish (蒸魚, Zing¹ Jyu⁶) recipe and this version is a good choice if you’re in a hurry and looking for an easy way to have some fish! Since the cooking time is so short using fish fillets, the Chinese broccoli is cooked together with the fish.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Long Beans with Chili Peppers (辣椒豆角鷄, Laat6 Ziu1 Dau6 Gok3 Gai1)

 

This recipe was updated on 31 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Some like it hot. If you like hot spicy food, this dish should do it for you. The dried red chilies not only add heat to this dish, but also flavor. If you don’t like heat, then the dried red chilies can be omitted, but the dish won’t taste the same. I’m working up a sweat just thinking about this dish and the dried red chilies.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Corned Beef in Beer with Vegetables

This has become my favorite way to cook corned beef – using a slow cooker (crock pot) – and in beer no less! The carrots are put on the bottom of the slow cooker, then the corned beef is added, beer and water, and finally the cabbage. Do this in the morning and you’ll have a tasty dinner in the evening. The cooking liquid can be made into gravy. Serve with the Stir Fried Garlic Potatoes recipe (recipe can be found here) rather than the traditional boiled potatoes.

Enjoy!

Stir Fried Garlic Potatoes

Stir fried garlic potatoes can be served as part of a weekend breakfast or together with the Slow Cooker Corned Beef in Beer and Vegetables recipe (recipe can be found here). The trick to this dish is to slice the red potatoes as thin as possible in order to quickly brown them in a wok over high heat. The garlic is added at the last minute to finish the dish.

Enjoy!

Pork Ribs and Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇海參排骨, Dung1 Gu1 Hoi2 Sam1 Paai4 Gwat1)

This recipe was updated on 22 Apr 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

 

So what do you do if you have some defrosted sea cucumber left over after making the Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇海參, Dung¹ Gu¹ Hoi² Sam¹) recipe? You look on the internet for some ideas, where I found recipes using pork spareribs and sea cucumber. So I adapted the Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms recipe to add pork spareribs. The combination actually tastes pretty good. Try it, you’ll like it.

 

Enjoy!

Mexican-Style Pork Stew (Posole)

Posole is a Mexican pork stew. This recipe is not authentic, but it is tasty. The flavor comes from the dried guajillo chilies that are added to Mexican-style tomato sauce. The traditional method to preparing the chilies is to roast them in a frying pan, remove the seed and stems, and then rehydrate the chilies in hot water before adding them to the sauce. I roast the chilies in the oven, remove the seeds and stems, and then skip the rehydration step and add the chilies directly into a food processor to make the sauce. I figure the rehydration step can be done while the chilies are cooking in the sauce.

Enjoy!

Fish Tofu and Baby Clams with Ground Pork (蛤蜊魚豆腐豬肉, Gap3 Lei4 Jyu4 Dau6 Fu6 Zyu1 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 12 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

I have to admit that this recipe has an odd combination of ingredients - there’s ground pork, fish in the form of fish tofu, and clams for shellfish. However the combination tastes great together with the juice from the clams providing even more flavor in the sauce. You can also make this dish with hot bean sauce for a spicier version of this dish.

Enjoy!

Steamed Hot Bean Sauce Pork Baby Back Ribs (辣豆辦醬蒸排骨, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Zing1 Paai4 Gwat1)

 

This recipe was updated on 27 Jul 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This is an easy to prepare spicy pork rib recipe using hot bean sauce and steaming takes only 30 minutes to finish the dish. The pork ribs do not require any marinating beforehand, but this certainly can be done if desired. Serve with some vegetables and rice, and dinner is served!

Enjoy!

Beef Flank and Tendon Stew (燜牛筋牛腩, Man1 Ngau4 Gan1 Ngau4 Naam5)

 

This recipe was updated on 23 Sep 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

Beef outside flank (also called drop flank) and beef tendon go together to make a classic Chinese stew. Beef outside flank is a thin cut of meat from the cow with silver skin, which requires long slow cooking to become tender and is available at your local Asian market. The silver skin is an integral part of the stew, so it shouldn’t be removed before cooking! This cut of meat should not be confused with the more common beef flank or flank steak, which is used for stir frying. Beef tendon is tough and requires long slow cooking, at which time it becomes soft and gelatinous, so it’s totally about mouth feel. Chee Hou sauce is the other important ingredient. Chee Hou sauce is similar in taste to hoisin sauce (which can be substituted) and has a slightly spicier taste to it.

Starting with this recipe, I’ve changed the format to include metric measurements and a list of the equipment needed to make the dish. Living in the USA all my life, I’ve always used the English measurement system, so from now on I hope the recipes are friendlier to the rest of the world.

Enjoy!

Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇海參, Dung1 Gu1 Hoi2 Sam1)

This recipe was updated on 07 Jun 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changes, and metric measurements added.

Sea cucumber is an ingredient usually reserved for special occasions. I remember eating this dish at every birthday dinner for my maternal Grandparents. Sea cucumber also makes appearances at Lunar New Year’s dinners, so this dish came to mind and seemed appropriate as the first recipe for the Year of the Snake.

The ingredient is not only expensive, but in its dried form takes some time to prepare and after rehydration you have to clean out the intestines before cooking. I used to be able to buy sea cucumber already rehydrated and cleaned at my local Asian market, but no more. It is now available frozen, so it needs to be thawed first before cleaning. Sea cucumber can be black or white in color, with the white version more highly prized and more expensive than the black. Another name for sea cucumber is sea slug, which doesn’t sound very appetizing, and it has a firm, jello-like texture (my brother-in-law calls it, “fish jello”). No matter what you call this ingredient, it really is quite tasteless and acquires the flavor of the other ingredients it’s cooked with and the sauce.

Enjoy!

Beef and Bell Peppers with Fermented Bean Curd (腐乳青椒牛肉, Fu6 Jyu5 Ceng1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Juk6)

 

This recipe was updated on 26 May 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

 

Fermented bean curd is the basis for the sauce for this dish. The bean curd has a distinctive sharp salty flavor that goes well with the sweetness of the bell peppers and the marinated beef. You can use more or less of the fermented bean curd in the dish depending upon your taste.

Enjoy!

Shrimp and Green Beans (青豆角蝦, Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Haa1)

This recipe was updated on 02 Dec 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This is an easy and tasty dish to make with ingredients available at your local supermarket. In order to reduce the green bean cooking time, they are microwaved first before cooking in the wok. If you had a restaurant strength burner to cook this dish, that step would not be necessary, but for most home cooks this is an easy way to speed up the cooking of the beans.

Enjoy!

Three Pepper Beef (三椒牛肉, Saam1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Juk6)

This recipe was updated on 04 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This is a spicy combination of three peppers and beef, with one being whole red chili peppers. These chili peppers were dried from my garden and weren’t that hot. While the homegrown dried chili peppers weren’t that hot, they were still very tasty. If you use store bought dried red chilies, they are hot and the quantity used in this dish would likely make your head explode (unless you’re accustomed to that level of heat), so feel free to reduce the amount used.

Enjoy!

Three Flavor Shanghai Noodles (三鮮上海麵, Saam1 Sin1 Soeng6 Hoi2 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I’ve always wanted to make this dish after eating at the local Muslim Chinese restaurant, which serves a dish called Three Flavor Dough Sliced Noodles (三鮮刀削麵, Saam¹ Sin¹ Dou¹ Soek³ Min⁶); the three flavors being beef, chicken and shrimp. I’ve adapted the ingredients to use Shanghai noodles and added a few other ingredients not found in the restaurant dish. Making this dish is more involved than your normal Chinese noodle dish since you need not just one flavor, but all three flavors available at once to make the dish, and it’s rare that I have all three available at the same time. While I had all the three ingredients available, I also made the Three Flavor Fried Rice (三鮮炒飯, Saam¹ Sin¹ Caau² Faan⁶) recipe.

Coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms are available at your local Asian supermarket. If you can’t find coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms, use the normal sized (larger than coin-sized) and cut them into ½-inch (15 mm.) wide pieces. Coin-sized Shiitake mushrooms are more for visual effect in the dish and taste no different than their larger counterparts.

There also are a lot of ingredients, both in number and quantity, used to make this dish. I used double the amount of noodles than I usually use to make noodle dishes, so there was always a question of whether or not my wok could hold everything. In my case, it worked, but this may be too much for your wok or pan. I’ve written the recipe to use only one pound (500 g.) of noodles to reflect the smaller amount. Feel free to reduce the quantity of the ingredients – especially the beef, chicken, shrimp, and noodles – to make this dish.

Enjoy!

Three Flavor Fried Rice (三鮮炒飯, Saam1 Sin1 Caau2 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 04 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Here’s another three flavor (beef, chicken, shrimp) dish that you can get at my local Muslim Chinese restaurant. In order to make this dish you need all three flavors available at once, which can be a problem since you’re likely to make dishes with only one available. Since I made the Three Flavor Shanghai Noodles (三鮮上海麵, Saam¹ Sin¹ Soeng⁶ Hoi² Min⁶) recipe, I had all three flavors available and decided to go for it.

I use Lee Kum Kee brand Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce because it’s the brand I grew up with and has a good flavor. It’s a little more expensive than other brands, but it’s worth the price in my opinion. I once had a weak moment and bought an inexpensive brand of oyster sauce, and was disappointed in the flavor when compared to the Lee Kum Kee Premium brand. So get the good stuff!

Enjoy!

Chinese Sticky Rice (糯米飯, No6 Mai5 Faan6)

 

This recipe was updated on 02 Jan 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Happy New Year’s to everyone. For the first recipe of the year, here’s a simplified version of Chinese sticky rice. While there’s still a lot of preparation to make this dish, the recipe is much easier to make due to the use of a rice cooker than the classic version my Mom would make. All Chinese Mom’s have a similar recipe for this dish, the primary ingredients being sweet (glutinous) rice, Cantonese pork sausage, dried shrimp, and Shiitake mushrooms. The variation in recipes come from the way the ingredients are prepared, any additional goodies that get added, and the way everything gets cooked together to make the final dish.

This is one of the dishes my Mom would always make for holidays and for her (favorite) Chicken Stuffed with Sticky Rice (糯米鷄, No⁶ Mai⁵ Gai¹). She would carefully chop and brown all the savory ingredients, prepare the sticky rice, combine the ingredients, and then cook the whole thing in the largest pot she had. Needless to say, the preparation time and work for this dish was large, but the results were always worth it. The best part being that after cooking the rice, there would be a crust of sticky rice on the bottom of the pot, which was another tasty treat after being boiled with more water.

 

So being the curious cook that I am, I asked my Mom for the recipe many years ago, and tried to emulate her recipe with varying degrees of success for the past number of holidays when I was doing the cooking (mainly the dish turned out just OK). The main change to her recipe was that I used a rice cooker instead of a pot to make the sticky rice – which means no rice crust. So over the years, I varied the ingredients (adding dried scallops, dried oysters, and other ingredients), soaked (like she did) or didn’t soak the rice in the mushroom hydration liquid before cooking (the rice turned out too soft if soaked beforehand or didn’t have the right taste if not soaked), varied the ratio of glutinous to non-glutinous rice (using both white and brown rice), and the amount and type of liquid (stock, water, rehydration liquid) to cook the sticky rice.

 

The change I made to make this version of the recipe for my family’s Christmas 2012 dinner was soaking the rice for one hour before cooking in the rice cooker. I found the method in Carolyn Jung’s recipe for sticky rice at FoodGal.com. While there still is a considerable amount of preparation time required to make this dish, this version is far simpler and uses fewer ingredients than my previous attempts. My Mom gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to this version and couldn’t wait to take leftovers home with her! So below is the recipe for my rice cooker version of my Mom’s sticky rice.

Enjoy!