Taiwanese Sticky Rice was one of my favorite meals growing up – I’d request it for my birthday even! It’s a simple dish, but it holds a lot of nostalgic value in it for me personally.
In general though, Taiwanese Sticky Rice makes a great weeknight dinner. Once you’re done with the preparation and initial stir-frying, the sticky rice will be steamed which means you can be hands off for a good portion of the cooking. I like to use this time to either clean up the kitchen to minimize cleaning after dinner, or to whip up some side dishes to round off the meal.
What is Taiwanese Sticky Rice?
Sticky rice is found in different Asian countries, each with their own take. The Taiwanese version is usually made with pork, fried shallots, and mushrooms, seasoned with different sauces based on the house recipe. The taste of it is similar to zhongzhi, but without the hassle of needing to wrap the sticky rice in bamboo leaves.
Why this recipe?
This recipe is extremely quick to prep and cook, and you can have it ready in 30 minutes! A good portion of the cooking time is actually spent hands-off so you can take that time to either make some side dishes, or clean up for dinner. Although our preferred method of cooking the rice is to steam it in a Taiwanese Rice Cooker, we realize not every household has one so we’ve also included instructions to just cook directly in your wok.
Ingredients and Equipment
The main ingredient for Taiwanese Sticky Rice is glutinous rice. Either long or short will work for this recipe, but you may have to adjust the amount of water added to make sure the rice can cook properly.
For toppings, we’ll be adding in:
- Dried Shrimp
- Dried Mushroom
- Fried Shallot
- Pork, thinly sliced
- Ginger, sliced
The easiest way to make Taiwanse rice is to first stir-fry the ingredients, and then transfer to a Taiwanese Rice Cooker to finish cooking. If you don’t have one hand or prefer to only use one pot, you can also continue the cooking process in the pot you used to stir-fry. Just make sure that your pot leaves enough room for the rice to expand as it cooks.
In addition, you’ll also need assorted bowls and a cutting board and knife to be able to prepare the ingredients.
Cooking Process
Start by preparing all the ingredients. Specifically, start by soaking the dried shrimp and mushrooms.
Some people are of the opinion that you should always use cold water when soaking these ingredients because it helps retain the taste better. I honestly can’t really tell the difference most of the time ^^”. If you have enough time (at least an hour) to soak, feel free to use cold filtered water for soaking. If you’re in a rush, like I often am, use hot water to expedite the soaking time.
While waiting for the shrimp and mushroom to soak, prepare the pork and ginger by cutting it into thin strips. Once the pork is sliced, rinse the glutinous rice until the water runs clear.
After all the ingredients are prepped, you can start stir-frying the ingredients. Start by heating some oil in a large pan or wok. Traditionally, the oil should be completely heated before you add in any other ingredients. This is obsentibly to release the maximum amount of flavor from the seasoning. Again, I can’t really tell the difference a lot of the time and the smoke from the oil can be really damaging to your lungs over time. It doesn’t seem quite worth it to me, so I usually just add in the seasoning at the beginning with the oil.
Stir-fry the ginger, fried shallots, dried shrimp, and dried mushrooms in that order until fragrant. Wait about 30 seconds between adding each of those ingredients to fully release the flavor.
Add in the pork and stir-fry until it starts to change color. Continue to cook the pork as you add the sauces and continue to cook until the pork is almost fully cooked. Add in the rinsed glutinous rice and stir-fry for a couple minutes, then transfer all the contents until the Taiwanse Rice Cooker pot. Add 1 ¼ c of water, using the soaking water from the shrimp and mushroom first, then making up the difference with cold filtered water.
Cook the Taiwanse Sticky Rice in the Taiwanese Rice Cooker using one rice cup of water on the outside of the pot. After it jumps up the first time, wait for ten minutes, then stir with a rice scooper. Cook again with another rice cup of water, then wait for ten minutes then serve hot with vegetables and side dishes!
final thoughts on Taiwanese Sticky Rice
Taiwanse Sticky Rice makes for a delicious weeknight dinner – quick and easy to pair with any vegetable side dishes. We hope you enjoy our version of the classic dish!
Taiwanese Sticky Rice (油飯)
Equipment
- 1 wok or large saucepan
- 2 small bowls (for soaking)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ c glutinous rice
- 3 T dried shrimp
- 3 T fried shallots
- 6-8 dried mushrooms rehydrated and sliced
- ½ lb pork sliced
- 1 ½ T soy sauce
- 4 T rice wine
- 1 in ginger sliced
- 1 ¼ c water
- 3 T oil
- 1 t sesame oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushroom and shrimp; keep the soaking water since we’ll use that as a broth to cook the rice. Thinly slice the pork and mushrooms and set aside. Rinse the glutinous rice until the water runs clear.
- Heat the oil in a large wok and stir-fry the ginger until fragrant. Add in the friend shallot, then rehydrated shrimp, then sliced mushroom. Between adding each, wait about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Add the sliced pork and stir-fry until it starts to change color. Add in the sauces (soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil and continue to stir-fry until the pork is almost fully cooked.
- Add in the glutinous rice and stir-fry for a couple minutes, until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and transfer the sticky fried rice to the Taiwanese rice cooker pot. Place the pot into the Taiwanse rice cooker and the water into the pot. Use the soaking juices from the dried shrimp and mushroom, with filtered water to make up any deficiency.
- Add a rice cup of water to the outside of the pot and start the rice cooker. After Taiwanese rice cooker is done, let it sit covered for ten minutes, then fluff the rice with a rice scooper. Add another rice cup of water to the outside of the pot, and cover and start the Taiwanese rice cooker again. Let it sit again for ten minutes, and then serve hot with vegetables and other side dishes.
