Lor Mai Gai (Steamed Glutinous Rice)

I love this dish!!!  I grew up eating this dish in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.

The recipe is pretty straightforward.  If a steamer is available, use it.  Otherwise, use a microwave oven like me.  As I live in the UK, getting an authentic Chinese steamer can be a mission.

As I had been craving for lor mai gai, I decided to make it myself.  The recipe is as follows:

A microwave oven

2 cups of glutinous rice (soaked for at least 24 hours.  I did it for 15 hours)

5 dried chinese mushrooms (soaked in a bowl of water (500 ml).  Keep the water for later)

Three sausages (I used Aldi's frankfurters as I didn't have the Chinese sausages)

Two boiled eggs

Two spoonfuls of:  dark soy sauce; light soy sauce; cooking oil

One spoonful of:   ground pepper; salt; sugar; ground ginger

A pinch of :           Chinese five spice powder

Firstly, remove the water from the glutinous rice.  Do the same for the mushroom.  Then, slice the mushrooms thinly.  Do the same for the sausages.  Remove the egg shells from the boiled eggs.

Secondly, fry the ingredients with the cooking oil in a wok.  Add the condiments and spices too.  Fry for three minutes and add the glutinous rice into the wok.  

Make sure that the rice is covered with the sauces.  Then, add the water from the soaked mushrooms. Fry for 2 minutes.  Then, remove the rice from the wok into a pyrex bowl.  

Slice the boiled eggs and add them to the rice.  Try burying the eggs among the rice.

Thirdly, pour some hot water into the bowl enough to cover the rice.  Put the bowl into the microwave oven and set the heat to the high level for 15 minutes.  

After 15 minutes of cooking, pause the oven and stir the rice.  Then, add some hot water which is enough to cover the rice.  Then, reset the cooking time to another 30 minutes.

Finally, once the oven stops, check the rice to see if it is fully cooked.  (My dish was ready at this stage).  If it is, then, serve and enjoy the dish with the Siracha garlic chilli sauce (it can be found at Tesco or Sainsbury's)

Before steaming

The ingredients can be found in the local Chinese shops.

If you wish to make it more authentic, add the Chinese sausages (lap cheong).  Fry the sausages separately without cooking oil.  The aroma smells like heaven!!!

Of course, we can add chicken to the recipe but first, instead of frying the condiments, marinate them with the chicken and mushrooms.  Then, fry them as in Step 2.

If you have prepared too much of the rice, remove some before steaming and store the leftover in the freezer.

Defrost the rice thoroughly (at least 24 hours) before steaming.  Cover the rice with boiling hot water (about a cm over the rice).  Put it in the microwave oven and cook for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!!!