Dim Sum-level Lo Mai Gai, at home (糯米鸡)

Lo Mai Gai, sticky rice chicken! This classic dim sum item consists of a small mound of lard-seasoned rice, stuffed with a saucy, umami rich ingredients and chicken.

Lo Mai Gai, a classic dim sum dish of sticky rice stuffed with saucy umami rich ingredients and chicken, all wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed.

Well, this little lotus leaf wrapped rice ball originally wasn't even a Dim Sum dish. Lo Mai Gai was invented in old Guangzhou in the 19th century by street vendors selling grab and go meals for people on their way to work. And even today, you don't just see Lo Mai Gai at fancy Cantonese restaurants, you can easily buy some at convenience stores throughout Guangdong.

The way how lo mai gai, or really, most dim sum is made, makes them perfect to freeze. You see, with the exception of Har Gow, almost all Dim Sum freezes really really well. You steam the thing til done, toss it in the freezer, and steam again when ready to eat.

This's why it's really easy to find packages of frozen dim sums at Chinese supermarkets, and the quality of some of these brands can actually get pretty good. So much so that you can even see some random stands in Guangdong selling steamed frozen dim sum, and the best plane meal I ever had was actually on Hainan Air that obviously just nuked some.

So here we’ll show you how to make a batch of Lo Mai Gai that you can scale up or down, freeze them all, and then re-steam at your convenience. Because… Lo Mai Gai at its core should be something at least potentially grab and go.

Lo Mai Gai

Makes six Lo Mai Gai.

• Long grain sticky rice (长糯米), 400g

• Dried shiitake mushrooms (冬菇/香菇), 8g

• Dried shrimp (虾米), 8g

• Dried scallop (干贝/瑶柱), 8g

• Extra water for pouring over the rice when steaming: 1-2 cups

• Seasoning for the rice

  Salt, 1 tsp;

  Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 1/8 tsp;

  MSG (味精), 1/8 tsp;

  Melted lard, 60g

• Chicken - thigh or leg - 60g of meat

• Marinade for the chicken

  Salt, 1/4 tsp;

  Sugar, 1/4 tsp;

  Cornstarch (生粉), 1/2 tsp;

  Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), 1/8 tsp;

  White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp;

  Soy sauce (生抽), 1/2 tsp;

  Dark soy sauce (老抽), 1/4 tsp;

  Toasted sesame oil (麻油/香油), 1/2 tsp

• Bamboo shoots (竹笋), 40g - canned is also ok

• Reserved mushroom/seafood soaking liquid, 1/2 cup for frying the chicken

• Reserved mushroom/seafood soaking liquid, 1/2 cup for frying the filling

• Prepared sauce for frying the filling:

  Salt, 1/2 tsp;

  Sugar, 1/2 tsp;

  Cornstarch (生粉), 1/2 tbsp;

  MSG (味精), 1/8 tsp;

  Chicken bouillon (鸡粉), 1/8 tsp;

  White pepper powder, 1/8 tsp;

  Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp;

  Dark soy sauce (老抽), 1/4 tsp;

  Toasted sesame oil (麻油/香油), 1/4 tsp;

  Reserved mushroom/seafood soaking liquid, 1/4 cup

• Dried lotus leaf, 2

PROCESS

The day before, wash and soak 400g sticky rice, as well as the with 8g each of the shiitake/shrimp/scallop.

To make the sticky rice, drain, then steam it for 30 minutes - checking every ten minutes. At the 10 minute mark and the 20 minute mark, drizzle over one cup of water bit by bit, flipping the rice as you go. You may not need to add any more water at the 20 minute mark if you rice already looks white and moist.

Remove the rice from the steamer, let it cool down. Mix with the 'seasoning for the rice'.

Squeeze and mince the mushrooms, the shrimp, and the scallops - reserving the soaking liquid. Debone your chicken - if using bone-in, take 60g worth of meat and cut into six ~10g hunks. Marinate the chicken with ‘Marinade for the chicken’, set aside. Dice 40g bamboo shoots, if using.

Fry the chicken over a high flame, and once it visually looks about 'done' (~30 seconds), add in the 1/2 cup of reserved mushroom/seafood soaking liquid and swap the flame to medium. Let it reduce away into a thick sauce, ~6 minutes. Remove the chicken.

Fry the mushrooms, reconstituted seafood, and bamboo shoots over a medium flame until fragrant, ~1 minute, then add in 1/2 cup of reserved mushroom/seafood soaking liquid together with any excess sauce from the chicken. Let it reduce away, ~6 minutes. Add in the 'prepared sauce for frying the filling', cook for 1-2 minutes until reduced and thick.

Fold the lotus leaf into quarters, then soak in 80C water for 30 minutes (it might be convenient to do this step earlier).

Squeeze the excess liquid out from the lotus leaf, and cut the leaves into quarters along the crease. This will give you six wrappers, plus an extra two in order to patch up any broken leaves.

Weigh your sticky rice, and divide into six portions. Oil your wrapper, place half of one 'portion' on, make a little well on the rice, place 1 tbsp of the saucy filling and one piece of chicken. Make a dome with the other half of the rice, lay it on. Seal the sides, shape with the leaf, fold in the leaf like a Christmas present, then roll it all up.

Steam all the Lo Mai Gai on medium for 20 minutes. Then it’s ready to be eaten.

To freeze, wait until they come back down to room temp, then lay flat in a zip-lock plastic bag. Freeze well for 3 months (rice texture will start to change after that time.)

To re-heat, don't thaw - steam from frozen, ~30 minutes over a medium flame.