Three (Reasonably Easy) Ways to Flavor Rice
Toishanese Youfan, Schmaltz and Taro Rice, and Wild Betel Leaf Rice (台山咸饭/鸡油芋头饭/假蒌饭)
Basically everywhere that loves rice also has some flavored rice, and that's definitely true of Guangdong - and in our view, the western coastal bit of the province in particular.
Stretching from Toisan to the Leizhou peninsula, this is an area that – culturally – is basically Cantonese, but maybe… Cantonese with a bit of an accent. The food usually shares quite a bit in common with its fluvial counterparts, but occasionally it doesn't.
The biggest city in this neck of the province is Zhanjiang, which the history buffs among you might know best as Guangzhouwan, the former French colonial equivalent of Hong Kong and Macau. And here? They love to flavor their rice. Their most well known flavored rice is probably chicken rice, which should look immediately familiar to aficionados of the Hainan or Straits varieties, but traditionally both duck and goose rice is also just as popular.
And while we do want to cover all those poultry rices one day… today we wanted to go over three other flavored rice dishes from that stretch of the province. Three dishes that can show you some fundamental rice-flavoring techniques, so that you’re armed with some idea to get creative - and whip up whatever flavored rice you want to whip up.
First, we'll show you how to flavor your rice by mixing it with a stir fry.. in the form of Toisan's classic New Year’s dish, youfan. Second, we'll show you how to flavor rice with oil using Leizhou's chicken oil and taro rice… and finally we'll cover flavoring rice with herbs via the classic wild betel leaf rice from that same area.
Toishanese Youfan
Note on Traditional Toishanese Youfan: Traditionally, this uses a mix of long grain sticky rice and jasmine (er... actually 粘米, or 'Champa rice', which is quite similar to Jasmine). If you own a Zojirushi rice cooker you can actually use this mix straight up - two parts Jasmine, one part long grain sticky rice. The longer cooking time of the Zoji will cook the sticky rice just fine. If you don't have a fancy rice cooker, soak the sticky rice with hot, boiled water 30 minutes before cooking, strain, then add to the rice cooker with the Jasmine.
Dried ingredients:
1 dried shiitake mushroom (冬菇) and 15 small dried shrimp (虾米) soaked in 1 cup hot, boiled water.
Pork loin (瘦肉), 120g. Cut into a thick dice.
Marinade for the pork:
Salt, ¼ tsp.
Sugar, ½ tsp.
Cornstarch (生粉), ½ tsp.
Soy sauce (生抽), ¼ tsp.
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ½ tsp.
White pepper powder, ⅛ tsp.
Oil, 1 tsp.
Jicama (沙葛), ½, ~250g. Cut into ½ inch cubes. Or ideally kohlrabi (芥菜头).
Lap Cheong (粤式腊肠), 1.5 sausages. Minced.
Garlic, 3 cloves. Minced.
Jasmine Rice, 230g/270mL (or 1.5 little plastic cup's worth if you have a Zojirushi).
To season the stir fry:
Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp.
Dark soy sauce (老抽), ½ tsp.
Oyster sauce (蚝油), 1 tbsp.
Sugar, ½ tsp.
Salt, ½ tsp.
MSG (味精), ~1/16 tsp.
Season the final rice to taste, we used another ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp sugar.
Scallions, 50g. Sliced.
Process:
To prep:
Soak one dried shiitake mushroom and 15 small dried shrimp in 1 cup hot, boiled water for at least 30 minutes, ideally 60.
Dice 120g pork loin and marinate with ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp sugar, ½ tsp cornstarch, ¼ tsp soy sauce, ½ tsp Shaoxing wine, ⅛ tsp white pepper powder, and a teaspoon oil.
Cut ½ jicama (~250g) into ½ inch cubes. Mince 1.5 Lap Cheong sausages and 3 cloves garlic.
Once dried ingredients are reconstituted, remove from water (squeeze mushroom), and dice the mushroom. Strain the liquid.
Rinse 230g/270mL Jasmine Rice. Add to rice cooker with strained soaking liquid and water to requisite line.
To stir-fry and mix:
To a hot wok, swirl in two tablespoons of lard. Over a medium-low flame, fry Lap Cheong for ~2 minutes until lightly brown. Heat off, remove. High flame now, heat the oil until bubbling (~30 seconds), and add the pork. Fry ~1 minute, add you mushroom/shrimp. Quick mix, add the jicama. Fry ~1 minute. Swirl in a tablespoon of soy sauce, quick mix. Swap the flame to low, add back the sausage, add the seasoning - ½ tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, ½ tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, ~1/16 tsp MSG - and remove.
When rice is steaming (~15 minutes from end), top with stir fry. Once rice is finished, return to wok. Add 50g sliced scallions, mix thoroughly. Season to taste (we used another ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp sugar).
Taro (芋头), 250g. Cut into half inch cubes.
Jasmine rice, 230g/270mL.
Schmaltz (鸡油), 3 tbsp.
Seasoning for the rice:
Salt, ½ tsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp.
Scallion and cilantro, one small spring each. Minced.
White pepper powder, ⅛ tsp.
Schmaltz and Taro Rice
Taro (芋头), 250g. Cut into half inch cubes.
Jasmine rice, 230g/270mL.
Schmaltz (鸡油), 3 tbsp.
Seasoning for the rice:
Salt, ½ tsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp.
Scallion and cilantro, one small spring each. Minced.
White pepper powder, ⅛ tsp.
Process:
Note that you will need to render this yourself unless you happen to live somewhere that sells schmaltz (e.g. a Jewish grocer). In China I can go to the chicken vendor and purchase excess fat to render. Many people in the west render theirs with leftover skin and fat; you can also skim stock to get some.
Cut 250g of taro into half inch cubes. Rinse 230g of rice. Add the rice to the rice cooker along with three tablespoons schmaltz, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp chicken powder. Mix well. Add water to get to the requisite line. Cook.
Shallow fry the taro. ~1/4 cup of oil (may need more or less depending on your vessel), fry the taro over a medium flame for ~10 minutes, or until it begins to harden & turn ever so lightly golden brown. Strain, transfer to paper towel lined plate.
Once the rice is starting to steam (or ~15 minutes from the end of cooking), top it with the taro and continue to cook.
Mince one sprig each scallion and cilantro. Once finished, mix in the herbs and the white pepper.
Wild Betel Leaf Rice
Wild Betel leaf (假蒟), 80g. Stem removed, rinsed, finely chopped.
Garlic, 3 cloves. Minced.
Jasmine rice, 230g/270mL.
Salt, ½ tsp.
White pepper powder, ¼ tsp.
Rinse and finely chop the wild betel leaf. Mince the garlic.
Over a medium-high flame, fry the garlic in ~1 tbsp oil (preferably lard). Once fragrant, add the betel leaves and cook for ~3 minutes until wilted. Add the rice and fry for 1 minute. Add to rice cooker with the requisite water, plus ½ tsp salt. Season with ¼ tsp white pepper at the end.