Happy New Year everyone and Happy Chinese New year to the ones celebrating it around the world.
Can’t believe it has been 2 months since I updated the blog, Its been quite a busy couple of months both at work and home. I’ve not really been cooking much new stuff in my humble kitchen until now. Glutinous Chicken rice wrapped in lotus leaf (also known as Lor Mai Kai) is one of my favourite yum cha dishes. Its not easy to find a good one too because some of them are too dry or too little ingredients. Over the weekend I thought I will give it a shot and try to create it. After a few minutes of online research I started the 2 days prepping process. 2 days sound pretty hideous but it is really not that bad.
It started with soaking the glutinous rice overnight. Why do they always say overnight instead of hours?! So my analyst brain starts to get to work, we need at least 8 hours sleep (not all but some people) so I have to soak it for at least 8hrs and because usually cooking happens in the afternoon or at night so I added a few more hours and made the decision to soak it for 12hrs. At this point I was worried. Thinking, is that enough time or too long . I can tell you now it is just the right amount of time 🙂
In the morning, I marinated chicken thigh pieces (light soya sauce, sugar, sasame oil, white ground pepper, oyster sauce and a bit of dark soya sauce for color), soaked some dried shitake mushrooms, dried baby scallops (can be replaced with dried shrimps), soaked and clean the lotus leave.
From what I’ve read from the internet, you will need to at least steam the glutinous rice for 1hr/ till cooked. First thing that came to my mind is, what?! really for 1hr?! I have to watch the steamer to make sure that it doesn’t dry up and opening and closing the lid to top up the water will impact my cooking time. And “ding ding” I have a light bulb moment… I will risk it and cook the soaked glutinous rice with rice cooker instead. Off I went and dumped everything in the rice cooker, add water, a bit of sugar, light soya sauce and a bit of salt. Stir the seasoning through the mix and turned on the rice cooker. No need to watch the fire or water, let the technology do all the hard work. I can tell you now, it worked like magic! The rice was nicely cooked and ready to be put together.
The next few steps were quite easy. sauteed some chopped garlic, add the dried scallops or dried shrimps (whichever you choose to use), then add the shitake mushrooms, stir fry for a few minutes till you can smell the nice fragrant. stir through a bit of corn flour into the marinated chicken then add it to the mushrooms and scallops/dried shrimps mix. Once its done its not far from the finishing line. Wrapping it is quite easy, some like a bigger pack then the others but I personally think glutinous rice more filling than normal grains so I like a smaller portion. Lay the cleaned lotus leave on a chopping board or cleaned benchtop (I’ve used the glossy side up because I think that will probably not stick that easily, follow by chicken and mushroom mix, topped up with the cooked glutinous rice (I did a 1:2 ratio for the ingredients and rice). Fold in the sides and its all ready for the last steaming process.
Once its all wrapped its another 30mins and they are all ready. If you are lazy to wrap them in lotus leaf, you can place them in small bowls or the small aluminium bowls. But of course lotus leaf adds a nice fragrant to the rice.
It is a successful experiment and again I will post the recipe when I get a chance to type them all up. In the mean time, for some of the experienced cooks, I hope this post will give you an idea of what you need to make the dish.
Oh and not forgetting its Chinese New Year (Year of horse) tomorrow 31/01/2014. Wishing all the people around the world who are celebrating it, a Happy Chinese New Year and a prosperous year ahead. Gong Hei Fat Choi!
Ham Or Hem 