We used to buy these in the mornings for breakfast in the market, before the hawker centers appeared in the late 1970s or so. We normally call it zhubipng. The same stall would sell fried bee hoon and porridge as well.
These stalls have almost disappeared now, but we can still get glutinous rice quite easily.
But not those that are raw fried.
Raw fried or 生炒 simply means we stir fry the glutinous rice until it is cooked. Sound like quite a bit of effort. It is, especially if you compare that to just steaming the rice.
I found this method easier, because I will always fry the ingredients and then the rice, anyway. I almost always fry until the rice is cooked, so there’s no point in steaming it again. So, I just switch to raw frying the rice till it is done.
The texture is completely different from the glutinous rice that is steamed, in that there is a light crunch to it, and the rice is firmer and more fragrant.
I have watched several tutorials on this dish and almost always, it involves first steaming the rice for 40 minutes prior to frying, and that is what most restaurants in Hong Kong do. I am not sure it is worth the while at home. Might as well just fry it all the way.
We also eat these and give them away to friends and neighbours to celebrate our kids’ first month birthday, together with red-dyed eggs. These days, they are less common, and it is always a welcoming sight to have some 糯米饭.
Raw Fried Glutinous Rice
Ingredients
- 4 cups of Glutinous rice sweet rice, soaked overnight in cold water
- 10 Dried shitake mushrooms reconstituted, save 1 cup of the water used to soak these
- 4 Tbsp Dried Shrimps reconstituted, and pounded
- 5 Fresh Shallots skinned and sliced thinly
- 2 Stalks Green/Spring Onions
- 2 Tbsp Fried shallots
- 6 Tubes Lup Cheong Chinese Sausages
- 1 Thumb size Ginger Shredded and fried
- 2 Tbsp Oil
- 2 long Red Chilies
- Bunch of coriander leaves finely chopped
Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Soya Sauce
- 1 tsp Bullion powder
- 2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- 2 Tbsp Shaoxing Wine
- 1 Tbsp OX optional
Instructions
- Mix the seasoning together with the reserved liquid from soaking the mushrooms.
- Heat a pot with a parchment paper in it (to create a non-stick bottom), and put in the oil.
- Fry the onions, sausages. mushrooms and dried shrimps sequentially waiting for each to be fragrant before adding the next ingredient.
- Strain and place all the rice into the pot. Stir thoroughly.
- Add 1/4 cup of the seasoning to the pot. Keep stirring.
- When the rice has absorbed the liquid, repeat the previous step, until the rice is completely cooked.
- Top with roasted peanuts, spring onions and friend shallots, cut red chilies etc.
- Serve immediately.
