My recipe for Chinese Sticky Rice with Pork Sausage

If you are looking to eat Chinese comfort food, here is a wonderful dish that I recently learned how to make. Growing up, my dad would always make this during the winter months. It was hearty and flavorful. Best of all, all the ingredients are mixed in the rice. I didn't need to grab any other food from the table because it was all in one dish. While most people serve this as a side-dish for a multi-course meal...I always get full from just eating a large portion of the rice!

Before I began to attempt to cook this dish, I consulted different recipes on the Internet. The best one coming from epicurious. However, I changed the cooking style and eliminated some ingredients when I made my dish.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Chinese sweet rice (short-grain) - May be substituted for 2 cups of sweet rice and 1 cup of Jasmine rice if you do not like it too sticky
• 1 cup Chinese dried black mushroom
• 5 links of Chinese sausages (6 to 8 oz total)
• 1/2 cup of baby dried shrimp
• 1 cup of Chinese vegetable head (may be substituted for whole chestnuts)
• 2 tablespoons of Asian sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1/3 cup of Chinese rice vinegar (optional, may be substituted for medium-dry Sherry)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion greens (optional as garnish)
• 1 teaspoon of salt (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper (optional)

Special Equipment: a rice cooker and a sharp knife

1. Start by soaking the mushrooms in water overnight. When you are ready to start cooking, soak the dried shrimp in bowl of water to clean. Set aside.
2. Put the 3 cups of rice into your rice cooker. Soak with tap water for 30 minutes. Then put 3 cups of water into the bowl and start to cook the rice. (The ratio of water to rice is about 1:1 You may put 3 1/4 cups of water but not more otherwise the rice will turn out soggy.)
3. Start to prep the ingredients for the filling: Drain the mushrooms and squeeze excess liquid. Rinse mushrooms, discard the stems and coarsely chop into tiny cubes. Remove the casing from the pork sausage and dice them into small cubes. Repeat with the Chinese vegetable; remove the hard exterior of the vegetable with a knife and then dice into small cubes. They should all be in similar size.
4. Heat up a pan with sesame oil. Add the Chinese vegetable and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add in the mushroom and continue to stir-fry. Next add the pork sausage and dried shrimp. Stir in the dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice vinegar. Add salt and white paper for taste. Continue to heat until all ingredients are cooked through. Remove from heat.
5. By this time, the rice in your rice cooker should have finished cooking. If not, wait at least 15 minutes before continuing. The rice should be as dry as possible.
6. Transfer the filling ingredients from the pan and slowly stir into the rice cooker. Start by putting half of the filling into the rice cooker and add more while mixing it with the rice. Stir from the bottom to distribute ingredients. Cover the rice cooker and keep it in the 'warm' position for another 10 minutes before serving.
7. Garnish with the scallions before serving. Eat immediately while hot!

Notes: I leave out the salt since the pork sausage is salty enough. Some recipes require cooking the rice in chicken broth for additional flavor but I don't think that is necessary. Feel free to eyeball the filling ingredients - add more or less according to your taste. I like pork sausage so I add 5 links but 3-4 would also be fine. I've also seen some recipes which include bamboo shoots which would also work for the extra crunch. Jander suggested that I do this but this is the same person that wants me to separate out the scallions...