Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf

Since fellow bloggers Jo, Reid, and Kathy have already figured out that we were going to make these; I’ll get right to the point. We did see these during our Thanksgiving visit to Pearl (Yes Angie, we really did see them), but since I had just gotten the book Dim Sum – The Art of Chinese Tea Lunchby Ellen Leong Blonder, we decided to give this a shot:

We headed off to 99 Ranch Market and purchased some Dried Lotus Leaves, though I enjoy calling them Water Lily Pads…..which is what they are:

We made many changes to the original recipe, mainly because we wanted to use what we had on hand, and also because we enjoy having a bit more "filling" then the usual "smear" of filling that is the norm.

Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf

Makes 8 "packets"

2 Cups Glutinous Rice
1 Tsp Salt
6 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms – soaked in warm water for 30 minutes, then drained and sliced.
4 Dried Lotus Leaves
2 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tb Oyster Sauce
1 Tsp Xiao Tsing
1/2 Tsp Sugar
3 Tb Vegetable Oil
1 Boneless, skinless Chicken Breast – Chopped to coarse texture
4 Oz Dried Shrimp – Soaked in water for 15 minutes and drained
1 Lup Cheong sliced to 1/4" rounds
2 Oz Char Siu cut into 1/4" dice
4 Boiled Duck Egg yolks cut in halves
1 Tb Corn Starch mixed in 1/3 Cup Water

1 – Rinse and soak Glutinous Rice in water to cover, add Salt and let soak for 1 Hour

2 – Cut each folded lotus leaf in half and cover with hot water. Soak for 30 – 45 minutes, turning occasionally to make sure leaves are totally soaked. (Since I didn’t do a turkey this Thanksgiving, it was good to actually use a roasting pan for something!)

3 – Cook rice in 2 cups of water. Once rice is cooked allow to cool slightly.

4 – Combine Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce, Xiao Tsing, and sugar to create a sauce.

5 – Heat wok or skillet, add 1 Tb oil and stir fry the shrimp and lup cheong for 1-2 minutes, add chicken and stir fry until the chicken starts turning white. Add mushroom, char siu, and sauce mixture and cook for 1 minute. Stir in cornstarch mixture and remove from heat when the sauce has thickened. Place onto a plate and put aside to cool.

6 – After leaves are soaked, rinse briefly and shake of excess water. Cut off about 2 inches from the "point end" of the leaf and trim any ragged portions of the curved edges with a scissors. Stack the leaves in the same direction and set aside.

7 – Divide the cooled rice and into eight portions.Divide the filling into 8 portions as well.

8 – Place the stack of leaves with the outer edge facing away from you. Spread a light coat of oil evenly over the leaf.

9 – Divide one portion of rice into two. Place this half potion of rice onto the lower center of the leaf and form into a 2"x3" rectangle. Place one portion of filling onto the rice, and place 1 half piece of egg yolk on filling. Place the remainder of rice portion on top of the filling. Press the layer gently together.

10 – Fold bottom end of leaf over the rice. Then fold over first the left then the right edges of the leaf over rice. Then roll up the rice packet to form a rectangular packet.

11 – Place seam side down in a steamer and steam for 20-35 minutes. (The book called for 15 minutes, but it was too short and the sauce and essence of the leaf had not permeated the rice).

Some notes: The recipe in the book used raw shrimp, but we decided to just use the dried shrimp we had on hand. The recipe did not use egg yolk, which I thought was odd. We’ve always had this with a quarter to a half egg yolk in it. The next time we may add some peanuts for texture, and maybe a scallop. But overall these tasted really good, and weren’t that hard to make – just a "whole lotta soakin’ going on.

Next Up, Shrimp and Chive Dumplings????