The One Ingredient That Makes Rice 100x Higher

After I went away to varsity, I didn’t dwell within the dorms and needed to fend for myself for meals. As I began cooking for myself, rice was one of many first issues I made in my postage-stamp-sized kitchen. I didn’t have the time, abilities, or monetary means to make myself the flowery Chinese language meals my grandmother spoiled me with, however I nonetheless craved Chinese language meals. One of many first issues I began cooking was one thing many Chinese language children are taught as their first cooking lesson that makes rice higher each single time: cooking it with Chinese language sausage.

Cooking Chinese language sausage (also referred to as lap cheong) with rice is a widely known cooking tip amongst Chinese language households. Jada Wong, procuring director at The Kitchn, realized how one can make it from her mother, and so they had it no less than as soon as a month when she was rising up.

I keep in mind my mother and father packing Chinese language sausage and rice on a visit to Hawaii and by some means cooking it and serving it in our resort room to avoid wasting cash. It’s the very first thing my nephews realized how one can prepare dinner on their very own to pack for college lunch. After I lived in Paris for near a yr, my first grocery haul from the Asian market included rice and Chinese language sausage.

Chinese language sausage cooked with rice is a very easy however scrumptious mixture. The Chinese language sausage perfumes the rice because it cooks, and the flavorful oil that comes out of it stains and flavors the rice just a bit bit. The rice is reassuring and filling, and the sweet-savory Chinese language sausage has an intense-enough taste that somewhat of it goes a good distance. This cozy meal is straightforward to make, pleasant on my pockets, and likewise makes fabulous leftovers and even the bottom of fried rice if I’m feeling like one thing totally different afterward.

Making Chinese language sausage with rice is so simple as it will get, which is why it’s such a kid-friendly concept if in case you have a rice cooker the place all the child has to do is push a button to show it on. However even should you don’t have a rice cooker, the stovetop methodology will work simply fantastic. Get the rice and water prepared as you normally do — my most well-liked rice right here is jasmine. Nestle a hyperlink or two of Chinese language sausage into the raw rice — no want to chop it, as you don’t need all of the juices to leak out.

From there, simply prepare dinner the rice as you usually do. The Chinese language sausage plumps up from the steam (and you’ll’t actually overcook it) and lets out its yummy juices onto the rice. When the rice is completed and also you uncover it, probably the most scrumptious cloud of perfume wafts up and at all times jogs my memory of residence. Switch the sausage to a reducing board and reduce it up, then fluff the rice. Serve the rice and sausage drizzled with somewhat soy sauce, perhaps with some stir-fried bok choy or Chinese language broccoli alongside for a extra full meal, or topped with a fried egg should you’re feeling further.