STEAMED RICE WITH CHICKEN AND CHINESE SAUSAGE

Steamed Rice with Chicken and Chinese Sausage is what I call a meal in one. This is a dim sum dish in most Asian countries, usually served on an individual bowl w/ a lid, when you open it you get the whiff of all the ingredients, oh, I can’t even begin to describe it, all I can say is.... it’s heaven!!! I’m just baffled as to why this is not served in dim sum restaurants here in America. I’ve been to NY, San Francisco and Chicago Chinatown but haven’t seen this dish in the dim sum menu. Pls. let me know if ever you’ve eaten this at a dim sum restaurant and I’d love to go to that place and eat there!!!!

I have almost forgotten that this is one of my favorite until I saw Ming Tsai made this on his show East Meets West few years ago. Since then I have made some tweaking to his recipe and I’ve been making this to fix my craving. What I’m blogging is not the traditional rice that’s used for this dish. I’m using sticky purple/black rice called “Tapol” in the Philippines. This variety of rice could be used both in savory and sweet dishes. The end product was still delicious and the color of the rice definitely made the dish more appetizing, in my opinion.

I highly recommend that you give this a try. But it’s imperative; should you decide to give this a whirl, pls. don’t use instant rice. I don’t have anything against them but it will just not work w/ this dish. Also don’t be intimidated w/ the ingredients you can always substitute them.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
3 chicken thighs, boned, ½ inch dice, with skin on
1 T soy sauce
½ T sugar
½ T sesame oil
½ C sliced scallions
½ T cornstarch
1 T minced ginger
4 lapchang (Chinese sausage) cut ¼ inch on a bias *I want a lot of these.
3 C white rice, washed until water is clear, drain ( I used “Tapol” )
1 t salt
1 T oil
6 C chicken stock or water

Combine the chicken, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, cornstarch, scallions, ginger and sausage and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

In a pot, combine the rice, salt and oil. On high heat, sauté briefly then add the stock to at least 1 ½ inches above the rice. (My Moms’ secret to a good ratio of water and rice to achieve perfect steamed rice is to deep the middle finger until it touches the top part of the rice and water should cover half of the finger, does it make sense?)

Bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and simmer until the stock has evaporated to the level of the rice.

Add the chicken mixture, cover and cook for another 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Stir well, cover, and reduce heat to very low. Add more stock if necessary.

Cook for an additional 10 minutes, then turn heat off.

Let stand for 5 more minutes to allow carry over cooking.

Serve on individual bowl and chopsticks.

TAPOL- A PHILIPPINE BLACK/PURPLE STICKY RICE. THEY CAN BE COOKED BOTH IN SAVORY OR SWEET DISHES. THIS VARIETY IS INDIGENOUS TO ASIA.

The rice turns red/purple when cooked.

Lapchang- Chinese Sausage (I love this fried too)