Glutinous Rice Chicken ( Loh Mai kai ) 糯米鸡

Glutinous Rice Chicken ( Loh Mai Kai） 糯米鸡

 

   Tasty loh mai kai for dim sum

 

The loh mai kai is popularly eaten for breakfast. It is sold at most coffee shops run by the Chinese. However, the loh mai kai sold at most coffee shops are average in taste only, while the ones sold at dim sum outlets fare better. I remember it used to cost slightly more than a ringgit (dollar) to buy one from the shop but now it costs three ringgit just for one loh mai kai and most often the taste of the store-bought ones is not totally satisfactory. 

SK made one batch last week but he did not want to post it yet as he thought he could improve on the basic recipe before sharing it here. This improved version is so much tastier than the batch last week. We gave this the thumbs up!

Ingredients

 

600g glutinous rice( soaked for 3 hours )
2 chicken drumsticks ( chopped into bite-sized pieces )
10 dried mushrooms ( soaked and halved )
4 Chinese sausages ( sliced diagonally )
4 tbsp cooking oil for oiling the bottom of the rice bowls
500 ml water

N.B. I used the Hong Kong lap chai sausage （香港粒仔蜡肠）

 

Chicken Marinade

 

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp ginger juice
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

Mushroom Marinade

 

2 tbsp shao hsing wine
2 Chinese soup spoons cooking oil
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar

Squeeze out the water from the mushrooms. Place marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well then add in the mushrooms and mix thoroughly.

Seasoning For The Glutinous Rice 

 

1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp shallot oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp shao hsing wine

 Marinated chicken pieces

 Sliced Chinese sausages

 Marinated mushrooms

 Left : teaspoon (tsp). Right : Tablespoon (tbsp)

 The loh mai kai covered with an aluminium foil

Instructions

 

1.  Drain the glutinous rice, add in 500 ml of water and steam for 25 minutes. Stir in the seasoning whilst still hot. Mix well and set aside.
2.  Marinate the chicken pieces for 1 hour
3.  Marinate the mushrooms for 1 hour
4.  Oil the bottom of a porcelain Chinese rice bowl. Place in 1 piece each of the chicken, mushroom and sausage.
5.  Spoon glutinous rice on top and press it down and level the glutinous rice over the chicken, mushroom and sausage with the back of the spoon
6.  Cover the bowl with aluminium foil and steam for 25 minutes


Note :
1)  You can read up on how to make shallot oil
2)  You can read up on the technique of steaming food here

 

Garlic Fried Rice 蒜头炒饭

Garlic Fried Rice 蒜头炒饭

A big bowl of garlic fried rice enough for three people

A bowl of garlic fried rice

Rice, the staple food of most Asians, is very versatile. It can be eaten plain or made into  porridge. With a little imagination rice can be combined with an assortment of meat and vegetables and turned into spicy and fragrant rice dishes like nasi briani, nasi borjari, just to name a few. Plain cooked rice can be fried with  meat, vegetables and eggs and turned into delicious fried rice.

Today, I am sharing my version of garlic fried rice with you. I first tasted garlic fried rice in a Japanese buffet at a five-star hotel in town. Mesmerised by the fragrance of the generous helping of fried garlic added  into the fried rice at the Japanese buffet, I went home and recreated it. Of course, I do not have the Japanese chef's recipe, but the result was not too bad. I have been frying leftover rice using this concocted recipe ever since.

Ingredients :

Plain leftover rice

Left : Thinly sliced Chinese sausage,  Right : Soaked and shredded dried scallops

Chinese celery or kan choy in Cantonese

Shrimps which have been shelled and with veins removed

Ingredients 

400g cooked rice, if the rice is in lumps, break it up

20g dried scallops, soaked in water for 1 hour and shredded

150 shrimps, shelled and with veins removed

1 Chinese sausage, cut into thin slices

1 stalk of Chinese celery or kan choy in Cantonese, cut into 1 inch sections 

an egg (beaten)

40g minced garlic

Sauce ingredients

1 tsp of oyster sauce
2 tsp of abalone sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt

Dissolve the sauce ingredients in 3 tbsp of water

Cooking Instructions

 

1.  In a wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil,  fry the shredded scallops over medium fire until fragrant. Dish up and set aside.

2.  Clean the wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry the sliced Chinese sausage over medium fire till fragrant. Dish up and set aside.

3.  Clean the wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil  and fry the shrimps over medium fire until cooked. Dish up and set aside.

4.  In a clean wok, heat 4 tbsp of oil and saute the minced garlic over low fire until  fragrant. The  moment you smell fragrance, fry for another minute then dish up and set aside. ( Note : Test the sauteed garlic to see if it tastes bitter, if yes then you CANNOT use it because it is burnt)

5.  In a clean wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil, lower the flame to medium and pour in the rice and add the dissolved sauce ingredients and fry till almost dry, then add in the egg batter and fry further till dry.(Note: After the egg batter has been added to the rice in the wok, a thin film of egg will form on the surface of the wok. Take care not to scrape this film of egg while frying the rice)

6. Then add in the Chinese celery, scallops, sausage slices, shrimps and garlic and mix thoroughly.