Hed Chef: Glutinous rice

Soft yet chewy nut-studded sticky rice with lovely bits of dried prawns, mushrooms and pork.

Sounds like a lovely mouthful, doesn’t it?

Imagine how you’ll impress your house guests during Chinese New Year when you present this traditional dish of savoury glutinous rice.

Anti-carbo dieters will be missing out big time if they lay off this delectable dish, also known as lor mai fan in Cantonese.

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>>> 3 cups of raw glutinous rice

>>> 60ml chicken stock or water

>>> 200g pork, sliced into strips

>>> 50g dried prawns

>>> 6 dried shiitake mushrooms

>>> 100g raw peanuts

>>> 200g shallots, sliced

>>> 1 tbsp fish sauce

>>> 4 cloves of garlic, minced

>>> 1 tbsp shallot oil

>>> Cooking oil

 

SEASONING FOR RICE

>>> 2 tbsp shallot oil

>>> 1 tbsp sesame oil

>>> 2 tbsp fish sauce

>>> 2 tsp dark soya sauce

>>> ½ tsp five spice powder

>>> Pinch of salt

>>> Dash of pepper

 

SEASONING FOR PORK

>>> 1 tbsp rice wine

>>> 1 tbsp rose wine

>>> Pinch of five spice powder

>>> Dash of pepper

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1. Marinate the pork.

2. Rinse the glutinous rice, then cover in water and soak for three hours.

3. Discard excess water and place rice in a large deep metal bowl.

4. Add the seasoning for the rice and mix well.

5. Sprinkle the 60ml of water or chicken stock onto the rice.

6. Steam for about an hour and 20 minutes or until the rice turns translucent and is cooked. White opaque bits in the rice indicate that the rice is not totally cooked.

7. Prepare the other ingredients while the rice is soaking.

8. Rinse the dried prawns and soak in water until soft. Drain the prawns and set aside. Keep 80ml of the drained liquid for later use.

9. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes until soft. Wash and rinse. Discard stems and slice thinly.

10. Heat 200ml of cooking oil and fry the shallots until crisp. Keep the shallot oil in a separate bowl. Any remaining shallot oil can be stored in a jar when cooled.

11. Heat the wok until smoking hot. Add 150ml of cooking oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add in the raw peanuts and turn the heat off. If the oil is not hot enough to cook the peanuts, brown the peanuts over a low heat. Remove peanuts from the oil and use kitchen paper to soak up excess oil.

12. Heat three tablespoons of cooking oil and add one tablespoon of the shallot oil.

13. Fry the dried prawns until fragrant. Add the minced garlic. Fry until fragrant. Before the garlic begins to brown, add the sliced mushrooms and fry for a minute.

14. Add the pork and fry for a minute.

15. Add the 80ml of liquid from soaking the dried prawns. Season with one tablespoon of fish sauce.

16. Allow the liquid to evaporate as the mixture cooks. Once the mixture is almost dry, taste it. Add more fish sauce if you prefer it saltier. Set aside the mixture.

17. Once the rice is cooked, mix in the fried pork mixture and nuts.

18. Stir carefully so as not to break the rice grains.

19. Garnish with the fried shallots and serve. You can also garnish with spring onions and coriander.