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Serves a Crowd

My Mom's Taiwanese Sticky Rice

by:
December 31, 2013
4
3 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 1 hour
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

The other day I was craving some of my mom's sticky rice and called her up to ask for the recipe. This is how awesome my mom is: She was able to tell me how to make it right then and there without looking anything up! She was excited to share this new technique she developed where she first par-cooks the sweet rice and then bakes it off in a casserole dish instead of using a rice cooker. Apparently, when you use a rice cooker, the sticky rice can get too mushy—but when using this technique it's always "QQ," or chewy.

Instead of cooking the aromatics in a different pan and then transferring everything into a casserole dish, I just used my Dutch oven (don't know how I lived without this baby!). If you don't have one, just transfer the rice to a casserole dish with a lid, or do what my mom does and cover it with aluminum foil.

My mom usually makes this with pork or chicken, but I decided to make it with Chinese sausage (which I guess makes it more Cantonese than Taiwanese). You can find the Chinese sausage and fried shallots (sometimes labelled fried red onions) in a Chinese grocery store. If you like cilantro, it makes a great topping, but if you don't, it still tastes great without it. For a little kick, I highly recommend serving it with some sweet chili sauce. —Joy Huang | The Cooking of Joy

Test Kitchen Notes

Comfort food varies depending on what corner of the world we're in. But wherever in the world we are, this is comfort. The sticky rice, with bits of Chinese sausage and the depth of sesame oil, make this a dish to keep in the books. The recipe makes quite a large serving, perfect for a big family or leftovers all week. Thanks for introducing this to us! —Brussels Sprouts for Breakfast

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Ingredients
  • 3 1/2 cups sweet glutinous rice
  • 6 or 7 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 3 Chinese sausage links, casing removed, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fried shallots
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
Directions
  1. Soak the sweet rice and mushrooms in room temperature water for an hour. The mushrooms will float, so place a lid or dish on top to weigh them down.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Start boiling 4 cups of water in a large pot.
  3. Squeeze the water out of the mushrooms and cut off the stems. Slice the mushroom caps and set aside.
  4. Drain the rice and add to the boiling water. Make sure that the water covers the rice, adding more water if needed. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until almost all the water is absorbed. The rice will have plumped but won't be soft yet.
  5. In the meantime, heat up the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook for a few minutes, until the fat is rendered out but the sausage still hasn't browned. Add the mushrooms and fried shallots and stir-fry for about a minute or two. Add the rice wine, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil and mix well.
  6. Add the rice to the Dutch oven. Mix very well so that the rice is the same color throughout. Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
  7. Fluff and serve with cilantro and sweet chili sauce, if desired.
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27 Reviews

Write a Review
LULULAND August 24, 2018
Where can I get this rice, sweet glutinous rice? thanks
Joy H. August 25, 2018
Try an Asian grocery store or Amazon?
JanetP October 6, 2017
I, too, crave this meal often and my Taiwanese mom was able to rattle off the recipe from the top of her head. :) My mom also agrees that using a rice cooker makes the sweet rice soggy instead of "QQ". She actually soaks the rice with cold water for at least 2-3 hours before hand (can be longer) in a microwave safe casserole dish and then makes sure the rice is just covered with enough water (as it keeps absorbing it at it soaks)I before microwaving in 5 minute increments until the rice is cooked through, fluffy and chewy (adding water as necessary). This has been a very easy way to get the rice perfect. Less work IMO than parboiling and then baking. Then she mixes the meat/veggie/sauce mixture all in with the cooked rice and serves. And we make our own sweet chili sauce with ketchup and Sriracha (playing around with rate until it tastes "right") since a stop to the Chinese grocery is hard for us.
Helene R. May 10, 2015
Do you drain the parboiled rice before adding it to the stirfried ingredients, or just dump it all in, including the excess water?
Joy H. May 10, 2015
Hi Helene, you dump it all in, but there really shouldn't be much--if any--excess water because the rice should have absorbed it all.
witloof December 21, 2014
My friend, whose parents are from mainland China, and I made this today, riffing on the recipe to include some brown rice {his mother always does it this way because there is diabetes in their family and it lowers the glycemic value} and substituting scallops and clams for the sausage. We also strained the mushroom cooking water, which I had seasoned with soy sauce and sherry, and added it along with half a can of coconut milk. Oh my gosh how utterly delicious.
Joy H. December 22, 2014
Oh wow, I'd be really interested to know how the coconut milk contributes to the sticky rice. Do you think it changes the texture, adds flavor, and/or adds some fat (in a good way)?
witloof December 22, 2014
I often order sticky rice at a vegetarian Vietnamese place and you can clearly taste the coconut milk in their version, which is where I got the idea to put it in. You can't taste it in the one we made, but I think it must add a fair amount richness as we didn't use a lot of fat to prepare it, and it's so incredibly savory and satisfying.
witloof December 22, 2014
Oh, and he also threw in a big handful of dried anchovies.
Joy H. December 22, 2014
Thanks! I might need to try that in my next batch!
witloof December 8, 2014
Do you know whether brown glutinous rice would work in this recipe? I adore sticky rice but am on a diet that prohibits white rice. TIA
Joy H. December 9, 2014
Sorry, I've never even heard of brown glutinous rice before!
witloof December 11, 2014
I had bought what I thought was brown sticky rice at Fairway in the bulk section, but it's white. I'll make it anyway! I love sticky rice!
Ellen November 11, 2014
You should switch step 4 and 5 and stir fried the ingredients first before you parboil the rice. I let mine sit too long and it got mushy. :(
Joy H. November 11, 2014
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you! I've made it multiple times following these exactly directions without any issues. Just to check, did you soak your rice in cold water or hot water? If you use hot water, it will definitely end up soggy.
Theglasstypewriter March 7, 2014
Is there a difference between regular glutinous rice and sweet glutinous rice?
Joy H. March 7, 2014
I'm not sure, but the package I use calls it "Sweet Rice" if that's any help.
alice Y. March 5, 2014
My mother makes this all the time too! Adding chinese dried shrimp really adds a lot of flavor too.
Susan B. January 28, 2014
I picked up a package of Chinese sausage recently and put it in the freezer waiting for inspiration and this is it! Thank you!
fiveandspice January 16, 2014
YUM!!!! This looks so good.
healthierkitchen January 16, 2014
congrats on the CP! I must make this soon!
Joy H. January 16, 2014
Thanks!
Loves F. January 16, 2014
Ooh, I want to make this!!
Susannah January 12, 2014
LOVED this. Will definitely be making it again
healthierkitchen December 31, 2013
Great! Glad to have a recipe for this - it sounds terrific.
louisez December 31, 2013
This looks wonderful. What kind and how much sausage? Thanks.
Joy H. December 31, 2013
I knew that ingredient list looked too short! It should be 3 links of Chinese sausage. Thanks for the catch!