Steamed Glutinous Rice with Dried Shrimps, Chinese Sausage and Mushrooms (Lor Mai Farn)
Saturday, March 07, 2015
Apart from getting the flavours into the rice, the key is to keep the grains separated and retaining the springy bite (“al dente”). Gluey and soft glutinous rice is to be avoided.
To achieve this, my Mum would slave over the wok. After soaking the rice for a few hours, she would slowly fry the rice in the wok and add water along the way. It can go on for a good hour till the rice is cooked and properly flavored. She would not use the electric rice cooker or regular steamers to pre-cook the rice.
Ever since I came across Leela’s splatter guard method (She Shimmers, a popular Thai Cooking blog), I have found an easier way of achieving the same results.
First you steam the rice using this method. Then you fry it in the wok to flavor and finish it off. You cut down the time behind the wok and the rice will stay separated cooked this way. It is really that simple.
This dish is great for a party and a kilo can easily feed 20-30 pax. Another similar recipe is Lor Mai Kai which I have already blogged on.
Ingredients
500 gm glutinous rice
6 pieces of dried Shitake Mushrooms
half a bowl of dried shrimps
2 Chinese pork or chicken sausage
1 tablespoon dark sauce
5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
5 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons chinese wine
2 bowls of water
1 tablespoon of white pepper
Garnish:A bowl of fried peanuts
Fried shallots
Spring Onions
4 red chilies
Method
1 tablespoon sesame oil
5 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons chinese wine
2 bowls of water
1 tablespoon of white pepper
Garnish:A bowl of fried peanuts
Fried shallots
Spring Onions
4 red chilies
Method
- Soak the rice for 4 hours.
- Steam the rice for 45 minutes using the splatter guard set up. Make sure water level is at least 2 inches below the guard to avoid water clogging on the rice. Stir the rice at regular intervals of 10 minutes. If using a regular steamer, using muslin cloth at the bottom to avoid water clogging in the rice.
- Soak the mushrooms for 10 minutes. Remove and dice it up.
- Dice the sausage.
- Soak the dried shrimps for 10 minutes and strain.
- In a wok, add the sesame oil and cooking oil and fry the sausage, mushrooms and dried shrimps for 10 minutes. Then add a bowl of water. Simmer for another 10 minutes and switch off fire.
- When the rice is steamed after 45 minutes or so, taste the rice for the texture. It should be soft enough to be eaten.
- Now, add the rice into the wok where the ingredients had earlier been cooked. Add a bowl of water, soy sauce and dark sauce.
- Stir to make sure that if there are clumps of rice, that they are separated.
- Add the wine. Taste and season further if necessary.
- After about 15 minutes of frying, the rice should be done.
- Serve it warm or at room temperature, garnish with the fried peanuts, diced chillies, fried shallots and diced spring onions. Accompany it with some chili sauce.
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| Frying the ingredients |
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