Chinese Sausage with Sticky Rice and Ginger Scallion Oil

 
If I could eat Chinese sausage every morning with a bowl of sticky rice, I would. Whenever I go home to see my parents my mom is always sweet enough to make some for breakfast. I started making it recently, and am finding it difficult to want to make anything else. It had taken me so long to make it because I was always so blocked with the idea of steaming the darn sticky rice. (But I don't have a steamer, and and why does rice need to be steamed and i just can't freakin' deal. Where are my tortillas? )

Luckily, I meditated for a long time and some tension cleared up and my ego suppressed to levels low enough so that I was finally able to proceed with the sticky rice. I went looking for a steamer a couple times but didn't find one. Then I remembered Adela using a regular old plate to steam that lovely carp one night. This is why Adela is a doctor who can perform deliveries involving human beings and I still can't tie my shoes properly. So here we are. One makeshift steamer:

Watching raw rice being steamed into perfect grains is like magic. While the rice is steaming, cut your Chinese sausage. Cut it very thin, on the diagonal, and saute in a little oil. Saute some minced rehydrated shitake as well. This is the type of Chinese sausage I like:

It says "lap xuong tuoi" and is from Westminster, CA which is also known as Little Saigon.  According to my mom, Vietnamese style Chinese sausage has more wine and less fat. There are a million sausage brands out there and some of them are terrible. If the sausage feels as hard as a rock, that is probably how it will digest. E-mail me for directions on how to find this particular brand.

Top the rice with the sausage and the shitake mushrooms. Eat with ginger scallion oil and a little Maggi seasoning.

Ginger Scallion Oil adapted from Francis Lam

Make a batch and have for the rest of the week to add lots of flavor to stir fries or plain rice. This stuff is amazing.

1/4 cup corn or peanut oil
maybe 3/4 Tablespoon of ginger
3 scallions loosely chopped
salt

In a food processor, grind the ginger and scallion. Put in a tall bowl or cup. Add healthy pinches of salt. (It should be enough to salt the 1/4 cup of oil.) Heat oil until just smoking. Pour oil over ginger scallion. Be careful, because it will smoke and sputter when you pour it.

Sticky Rice

With sticky rice, soak 1-2 cups of rice overnight (for at least for 2 hours) in cold water. Drain and rinse it. Create a makeshift steamer by balancing a plate on a bowl in a large deep pan/stock pot.Fill the pan with water up to about 2/3 the way of the bowl or as high as you can. Put the rice on the plate. Bring the water to a boil and put the lid on. Steam on a low simmer for 20 minutes. During that time stir a few times to make sure the rice cooks evenly.

Comments

[Maure]

"If I could eat Chinese sausage every morning with a bowl of sticky rice, I would."

looking at this, I concurr. This looks so dang good and delicious and I can't wait to either make it or find it on my front doorstep along with the last edition of my local newspaper - mazel tov!

[sandy]

mmm, I love chinese sausage with sticky rice steamed in the leaf wrappers, but this looks like something I could try making at home. Great site, glad I stumbled upon it!

[Michelle]

Maure - I should start a mail order business. Chinese Sausage and the paper in a picnic basket!

Sandy- Thanks very much. Glad to see you around here. It is very easy to make at home.