Savory Glutinous Rice/Chu Bee P'ng Recipes

Is the time of the year again. Malaysia will be celebrating her 53rd birthday end of this month. As usual Babe In City - KL is hosting a Virtual Merdeka Open House 2010 and team for this year is Food From Our Hearts . We were to cook a dish close to our hearts.

Being so far away from home makes me appreciates home cooked food even more. I used to take it for granted that I can easily eat the food at home or buy it outside. But since living here in the US I don’t have the luxury to do so. If I want something from home I have to cook it myself. In a way it is a good thing as I learned how to cook them myself.

Today I wanted to share with you my mom’s simple Savory Glutinous Rice. I remember on every festive season she will cook a big pot of her savory glutinous rice. She will wakes up as early as 5.00am to cook this dish besides other dishes. She likes doing that as this way nobody gets in her way in the kitchen and she can cook in peace. We used to get upset with her as we will smell the fried garlic and shallots all the way to our upstairs rooms where else we still wanted to continue our beauty sleep. But now I wish I can have that smell to wakes me up in the morning here. This dish has both a sentimental and comfort  to it that will always reminds me of home and my mom.

Ingredients:

500 grm glutinous rice
6 shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 piece chicken breast – sliced thinly
10 dried mushroom, soaked till soft, drained and thinly sliced
6 dried scallops, soaked till soft then drained and shredded
1 Chinese sausage - remove casing and diced small (optional)
3 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 cup water

For garnish

Some fried shallots
some roasted peanuts
some small diced green onions

1. Soak the glutinous rice in water for at least 2 hours. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat up the wok, add in some olive oil and fry the shallots until golden brown. Remove for garnish later. Add in the chopped garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
3. Add in the meat, chinese sausage,mushroom and scallops and stir-fry for five minutes.Add light soya sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add glutinous rice and stir-fry for few minutes.
5. Add in the water, mix well and cook the rice for two minutes.
6. Transfer the rice into a steaming pan and steam the rice for 40 minutes. Stir rice every 20mins, sprinkle some water if necessary. Steam until the rice is cooked.
7. Remove the rice from the steamer and top with fried shallots, roasted peanuts and some spring onions.

Note: For best results, steaming is recommended so that the rice doesn't get mushy.