Tag Archives: sticky rice

Sticking To It

Posted on by
3

It is almost noon on this 8th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am happy and pleased that I am still here tapping out another post. I did not have time for a morning walk but perhaps later this afternoon. I can walk to the Asian Market for some dried Shiitake mushrooms and then stop in to check on my father. The mushrooms are one of the must ingredients in making sticky rice. I’ve developed a yen for making it with lotus and bamboo leaves.

I’ve gathered all my ingredients – lotus and bamboo leaves, split mung beans, peanuts, Chinese sausage, dried shrimps, glutinous rice. I’m running low on the mushrooms. It is a labour intensive endeavour. It sounds so much fun in theory. I got rather cranky after making the lotus leaf sticky rice. The dry leaves are huge. You have to soak them for at least 2 hours before they are pliable to work with. Then you have to clean them because you don’t know what kind of pond they came from and what kind of things are attached to them. Here’s my photo gallery of the process.

soaking lotus leaves in water for 2 hours
Wrapping it up. One layer of cooked rice, add cooked fillings, add layer of rice on top.
All wrapped up.
They are put in top layer of big pot and steamed for 20 minutes.
I soaked too many leaves. They are rolled up in saran wrap, put in zip lock bag and frozen for use next time.

For the hours of struggle, it added to only 6 lotus leaf sticky rice. Enough time has passed since I made them. In my mind it is fun again. It will be easier the second time around. My leaves are prepped. They just have to be thawed.

STICKY RICE

Posted on by
2
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s a sunny Christmas Eve afternoon. There’s no sign of a white Christmas. I’m making sticky rice as my contribution to our family meal at my brother’s this evening. I’m not at all in a yuletide mood. But my mind is cast back to my childhood memories of winter solstice and New Year in China.

Though we have left China behind, my mother have kept some of the traditions alive. Now that she can no longer make the traditional dishes, she has instilled the love of Chinese food in me. Enough so that I can sort of fake a dish or two. There’s YouTube now with instructions for any dish you can think of. It’s too late for Winter Solstice but I can make rice dumplings for New Year’s. Chinese New Year would even be better. It would give me more time to prepare. Here’s an excellent video on how.

New Year was an exciting time for me as a child. All the aunties would get together on the eve and spend the night cooking up all kinds of pastries. I can still hear the murmur of their voices as they tend the fire and pots while I lay upstairs in bed, fighting sleep. It was a magical time. I would wake in the morning to find a new outfit to wear and a little red envelope.

Now back to my sticky rice. I use a fail-safe recipe by Amy and Jacky. It is cooking in the Instant Pot after a little mishap. I was forgetful and not paying attention. I started pouring water into the pot then realizing the liner pot was not in it! Lucky it was just a little water and it came out the bottom. I was afraid it might short circuit the electrical and wreck the pot. I used my hairdryer to blow dry everything. It worked. Saved for another day!

Instant Pot Chinese Sticky Rice