New Year's Feasting & A Not-So-Oily Sticky Rice Recipe

This past weekend, we had an amazing Lunar New Year potluck with friends at our house. There were only 6 of us so there were plenty of scrumptious leftovers for everyone to take home. I'm blessed to be friends with such great cooks! I'm probably biased but I honestly believe the food we made (and ate) was just as good, if not better than the food I've had in a lot of restaurants. 

 

Clockwise from top right:

• oily rice 油飯 (recipe below!)
• braised pork belly 紅燒肉
• fermented rice with sticky rice balls 酒釀湯圓 
• steamed snapper with tofu
• drunken chicken 醉雞
• the whole spread in one shot!

For those who are interested, here is an approximate recipe for the "oily rice" (油飯). Even though it's called oily rice, it really isn't very oily at all. It's made with a special sticky rice and is savory and delicious all at once!

Ingredients

• 8 cups of sticky rice
• 1/2 bag of dried shitake mushrooms
• 1/2 bags of dried shrimp
• 3 pork chops
• Fried red shallots 
• Soy sauce
• Sugar

Recipe

1. Soak mushrooms in water for 1-2 hours (or until soft). Save the water and dice the mushrooms.
2. Cook rice separately in rice cooker (I had to do a little trial and error to figure out the right proportions - may differ by rice cooker).
3. Dice up the pork chops and marinate the meat in soy sauce and sugar.
4. Cook dried shrimp in oil and then add mushrooms.
5. Cook for awhile and add mushroom water when it gets dry.
6. Add red shallots.
7. When it starts smelling fragrant, clear out space on pan.
8. Add oil in cleared space and put meat in.
9. Cook thoroughly until meat is done.
10. Add more soy sauce and sugar.
11. Remove from heat.
12. Mix meat, mushrooms, shallots, and shrimp with cooked rice.
13. Adjust taste by adding soy sauce and sugar until the taste and color are right.

Thank goodness for friends and family that make each year even better than the last. Happy Year of the Sheep to all!