Tag: #oystersauce
Stuck on Sticky Rice (Gnaw Mai Fan)

Stuck on Sticky Rice (Gnaw Mai Fan)

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When the holidays roll around and the feasting begins, you can find me eyeing the array of side dishes on the table.  Yep, scoop me some sweet potatoes, pour on the creamed spinach, and pile high the mashed potatoes. While everyone oohs and ahs over the turkey, I’ll be laser focused on the sides, like the STUFFING.  I adore stuffing, especially my mom’s bread stuffing, but my second favorite is a Chinese rice dish.  It’s called Gnaw Mai Fan. Sounds delicious right? No? Also known as Sticky Rice Dressing, it is the Asian contribution to the Thanksgiving table.

You start with sweet (glutinous) rice, add fragrant shiitake mushrooms, sweet & salty Chinese sausage aka Lop Cheung, dried shrimp, and finish with a generous amount of green onions.  Sounds easy right? It is, but the hurdle is getting the ingredients, unless you have an Asian market nearby.

Primer for Sweet Rice Dressing

Moving from left to right; long-grain rice, green onions, dried shrimp, Chinese sausage, and dried shiitake or black mushrooms. Behind the mushrooms is the short grain sweet rice (or glutinous rice) and in the back are bottles of oyster sauce and soy sauce used to season the rice. Yep, two kinds of rice.  I mix the glutinous rice with regular long-grain rice to lighten the rice mixture.  All of these ingredients can be found in most Asian markets.  The dried shrimp and sausage can be found in the refrigerator case.  Sauces to use?  the following two are key.  I swear by Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce and Lee Kum Kee’s Premium Soy Sauce are my go-tos, but Pearl Ridge and the Korean brand Sempio 501 are good too.

Soak, Soak, Baby

Soak the dried mushrooms and shrimp in warm water for approximately 15 minutes or until soft.  Drain and reserve the soaking water from the mushrooms and shrimp. Wash your long grain rice and drain.  Add the glutinous rice and long grain to your rice cooker.  Yes, your rice cooker.  I have absolutely no idea how to cook rice in anything else but a rice cooker (use the measuring cups that come with your rice cooker).  Strain and add reserved liquid from mushrooms and shrimp to the pot, add chicken broth to make up the difference. Place Chinese sausage on top of the rice and turn on the rice cooker.

Prep the other ingredients while the rice is cooking.  Optional additions include ground seasoned pork, char siu (bbq pork), bacon, and roasted chestnuts.  It’s your rice dish, go crazy.  I usually add seasoned ground pork or chicken.

In a pickle, I have used Japanese short-grain or sushi rice in place of the glutinous and long grain rice combination.  Shhh, don’t tell my Mom!  My kid has made this for his Friendsgiving celebration to rave reviews.

This dressing works well as stuffing for turkey or chicken, use it just like any bread stuffing.  If served on the side, add the pan drippings to the rice for a flavor boost.

Garnish with cilantro and scallions.

And It’s Gluten Free!

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Gnaw Mai Fan-Chinese Sweet Rice Stuffing

A traditional Cantonese Rice dish to use in place of stuffing during Thanksgiving!
Course Main Course, One dish meals
Cuisine Asian
Keyword gnaw mai fan, Sweet Rice Stuffing
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes

Equipment

  • Rice Cooker

Ingredients

  • 2 cups long grain rice using the rice cooker mesuring cup
  • 2 cups sweet rice using the rice cooker measuring cup
  • 4 lop cheung steamed with rice, removed and diced
  • 1/2 cup char siu (bbq pork) Reduce lop cheung to 3 and substitute diced barbecue pork
  • 4 dried black mushrooms (shitake mushrooms) soaked in warm water until soft, diced, reserve soaking liquid (use 1-1.5 cups of water)
  • 1/4 cup small dried shrimp soaked in warm water with black mushrooms
  • 2 slices fresh ginger size of a quarter
  • 3-4 cups chicken stock you can use commercial low sodium chicken broth
  • 3 green onions chopped

Ground pork and marinade

  • 1/3 cup ground pork or chicken
  • 1 tsp each sherry, oyster sauce, soy sauce
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • dash of salt
  • 1 pinch white pepper
  • 1 slice ginger

Seasonings

  • 1-2 Tbsp Soy Sauce Premium LKK Chinese Soy Sauce or Korean Soy Sauce (Sempio)
  • 1-2 Tbsp Oyster sauce Lee Kum Kee brand-Lady, boy in boat label

Garnish

  • Cilantro
  • Green onion

Instructions

  • Cook rice in rice cooker with reserved soaking liquid from mushrooms and shrimp and chicken broth.
  • Marinade ground pork for 10-15 minutes.
  • Heat pan, add 1 T oil, when hot, add ginger and fry 30 seconds, add drained dried shrimp and 1 t water, sauté 30 seconds then add ground pork, saute just until pork is no longer pink.
  • Add mushrooms and lop cheung. Sauté additional minute or two.
  • Add green onions, saute' another 30 seconds and remove from heat.
  • Pour rice into large mixing bowl. Fold in sautéed ingredients, mix soy sauce and oyster sauce together and add to rice. You will probably need more, just use a 1:1 ratio of soy sauce to oyster sauce.
  • Mix thoroughly.

Notes

Leftovers can be pressed and shaped into rice balls for a tasty portable snack-thumbs up from my kids!
Sesame Noodles (Ancient Family Secret)

Sesame Noodles (Ancient Family Secret)

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Jamie was home for the week so of course, we pulled out the party plates and hosted a happy hour at our house. Though we usually stick to finger foods, we broke out the forks and chopsticks for a delicious, perfect for hot weather dish, Sesame noodles.  A combination of soy, vinegar, sesame oil in the dressing packs a flavor punch followed by a spicy kick courtesy of chili oil.  The dish is prepped in advance and left to sit overnight for the flavors to meld.  Just before serving, give the noodles a last toss, a sprinkle of green onions and sesame seeds on top, and then watch friends gobble it up.  Really, that good.

My friend Sarah asked for the recipe for these tasty noodles to which I teasingly replied “it’s an old family recipe”.  I had her for a second until I finished with “from my dear Aunt, Martha Stewart”.  Yep, the recipe is from Martha Stewart’s Entertaining.  An iconic tome filled with delicious recipes and the ABCs on “how to host” a fabulous party. It changed the way my generation viewed “The good life”.  I was on a student’s budget when Entertaining was published so the best I could do was pour over the pages of her book and dream. An elegant Manhattan penthouse cocktail party or Hawaiian Luau in the Hampton’s were not within reach but her recipes were.  A girl can dream, and eat delicious tasty food.

We served the noodles with grilled flank steak and a cucumber salad.  A big hit!  The recipe is simple and easy.  The hard part happens way before you start making this delicious dish.

FINDING THE INGREDIENTS

The dressing calls for Chinese Black Vinegar and Dark Soy Sauce.  Whaat? Isn’t there just one soy sauce to rule them all?  Nope.  Chinese dark or black soy sauce is actually thicker and less salty than regular Chinese Soy Sauce or Kikkoman Soy Sauce.  It is fermented a little longer and contains either molasses or sugar which adds a bit of sweetness.

The other ingredient is Black Chinese Vinegar.  Chinese Black Vinegar, also known as Chiankiang Vinegar, is best described as a slightly less sweet Balsamic Vinegar.  I did painstaking intensive research (googled it) and found the best substitution (from America’s Test Kitchen) equal parts red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar blended together.  I did my own taste test and it did seem to be pretty close in flavor, maybe a touch sweeter than black vinegar.

The Line-up

A picture is worth a whole lotta words so here are my bottles of the different sauces.  I prefer Pearl River Dark Soy, it is a little mellower and not quite as salty as Koon Chun.  For those of you in my neck of the woods, I will gladly point you in the right direction for where and which ones to buy.

I have added my own twists to this dish of course.

Decrease the amount of salt (the original seemed like a ton) and use kosher salt.

Add 1 -2 tablespoons of oyster sauce to add umami (I know what your thinking noooo, not another sauce. This is optional but everyone should have a bottle of this miracle sauce in their pantry.  Make sure it is made by the Lee Kum Kee one with the kid and mom in the boat.  Cut chili oil amount by half.  I’m a wimp.

Add blanched asparagus, sugar snap peas, snow pears, fresh corn, and-or shredded chicken for a more substantial dish.  The sky’s the limit.  Garnish with green onions and cilantro (if you like cilantro) and toasted sesame seeds.  Voila’ KILLER NOODLE SALAD ready to go!

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Old Family Secret (Sesame Noodles)

Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American
Keyword Sesame Noodles
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes

Ingredients

  • Make this dish the night before
  • 2 pounds chinese egg noodles
  • 1/2 cup sesame oil
  • 1/2 cup black soy sauce
  • 3 T black Chinese vinegar
  • 3 T sugar
  • 1 1/2 T salt kosher coarse
  • 2 T hot pepper oil chili oil (start with 1 T it is really spicy with 2)
  • 1/2 cup finely sliced scallions white and green part
  • Recipe can easily be halved**

Instructions

  • In a large pot of boiling water, cook the noodles 1 pound at a time. Boil 4-5 minutes, until just tender.
  • Drain, rinse well under cold running water until chilled, and drain again. Put in a large bowl.
  • Combine remaining ingredients. Reserve approximately 1/4 of the dressing. Stir the rest into cold noodles, mixing well.
  • Chill overnight.
  • Just before serving toss with reserved dressing. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and additional green onions.
  • Variations: Reduce salt to 1 T kosher, add 1-2 T oyster sauce. Add blanched asparagus or snow peas or sugar snap peas or cucumbers.
  • For a more substantial dish add shredded chicken or cooked shrimp.