I have very few expectations for this recipe

Time: 4 hours

Ingredient Availability: 2/5

Difficulty: 3/5

I don’t really know why this recipe stuck out as something that I wanted to make. Maybe it was because it was wrapped in a lotus leaf and the picture just looked interesting. I wasn’t familiar with this dish or anything quite similar, either. In any case, Chinese rice with chicken and other flavors inside just sounded tasty. Plus, it was in the chewy Section of Josh’s Texture over Taste, so I wanted to see how he interpreted it.

Key Ingredients and Omissions:

This recipe has the worst ingredient availability score I’ve ever given. I wasn’t able to find cremini mushrooms, dark soy sauce, or lotus leaves. Instead of those ingredients, I used baby Bella mushrooms, tamari sauce, and banana leaves. It’s one thing to have ideal ingredients listed, but when you know some ingredients are more obscure, I feel like some substitutes should also be included. For example, although I was able to find glutinous rice, I’ve never seen a bag of rice that says glutinous rice on it. It would’ve been helpful if the recipe gave some examples of rice that are considered glutinous (sweet rice works). If lotus leaves aren’t available, what else could be used? That kind of thing really helps the average home cook. As far as the other ingredients go, they weren’t too special. Some things, like five spice powder and the rice, had to be picked up at an asian market, so keep in mind that you may need to visit multiple stores to get everything you need. I got bone in-skin on chicken thighs instead of boneless-skinless chicken to save some money, but I paid the price in time. I didn’t leave anything out except for the optional chili oil.

Tools:

I usually don’t write much in this section, but I feel like it’s warranted here. I’m probably not the only one who doesn’t always read the whole recipe before starting to make it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if others run into issues once you start. This recipe asks you to use a wok and steaming baskets. These are two tools that are not common in most kitchens. While I don’t think you need a wok specifically (a large pan works), you do need something to steam in. It would help if special tools were pointed out somewhere within a recipe. If you start this recipe and read each step as you go and get to the steaming point and have no way to steam the pouches I think you’d be pretty upset. That’s why this section exists.

• Wok or Large Pan

• Steaming Baskets or other way to steam

Cooking Review:

Skinning and Deboning Chicken; Marinade: 7 chicken prep+16 minutes

After skinning and deboning the chicken, I sliced the chicken into small pieces. Then, I added all of the marinade ingredients to a bowl and mixed until well combined. I used ground ginger instead of a knob of ginger that I would only use a part of and end up throwing the rest away.

Soaking Rice: 2 Hours

The following day, I put the rice into a bowl and covered it in water. I left this to sit out for 2 hours.

Prep: 13 minutes

Although this could have easily fit into the two hours of soaking the rice, I didn’t think of that until I started this step. The prep included chopping the green onions and dicing the mushrooms. I will note that I only had about half the amount of mushrooms that the recipe calls for.

Cooking Chicken: 5 Minutes

After marinating the chicken overnight, I heated a large pan over high heat and added plenty of oil. I stir fried the chicken for about 5 minutes until cooked through.

Cooking Mushrooms and Green Onions: 13 minutes

I removed the chicken from the pan and added the mushrooms, cooking them until soft and most of the moisture had been cooked off. I added the green onions and cooked them for a few seconds.

Finishing rice mixture: 5 minutes

I added the chicken back to the pan along with the tamari sauce (used instead of dark soy sauce). I then added the rice and stirred everything until the rice was evenly coated and the mixture was even. Here is where you’ll probably wish you had a wok, as there is a lot of rice and you’ll need to be careful when mixing not to make a mess.

Filling Banana Leaves: 37 Minutes

I used a cup of rice mixture for each rice pouch. If you do use banana leaves instead of lotus leaves, be careful which way you fold over the sides, as the leaf may split fairly easily. Once I had the filling wrapped, I used some kitchen twine to tie them shut. This step island exactly hard, but it is tedious and you really do need to oil the leaf so the filling doesn't stick while cooking. I ended up with 11 total pouches.

Steaming: 1 hour 12 minutes

The recipe should have had you start your steaming set up earlier to save you a little time. I ended up waiting about 12 minutes for my steaming setup to be ready before steaming the pouches for 90 minutes. I don’t have steaming baskets, but I am lucky to have a pot big enough to fit these round cooling racks that came with our microwave. I put some water in the bottom of the pan and stacked the racks and they worked great for steaming. I know not everyone has something like that, which is why I wrote so much in the tools section. Keep it in mind.

Analysis:

After 4 hours of waiting (really more if we include the overnight marination), you want whatever you worked on to be worth the wait. I’m happy to say that I think it was worth it. I haven’t had anything quite like this before. Sure, chicken and rice isn’t something out of the ordinary, but this particular iteration is. The chicken and rice were cooked perfectly, remaining tender after the steaming. The flavor was interesting. It’s hard to describe but I really enjoyed it. All of the spices and other seasonings came together for create a harmonious flavor profile. While the flavor wasn’t super intense, I don’t think it needed to be. The flavors were well balanced overall, but I do think that maybe a little more salt wouldn’t hurt. As the name states, the rice is pretty sticky and although I wouldn’t necessarily say that this dish is dominated by chewiness, I do see why it is in the chewy category of the book. Overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. Yes, I have gripes about how the recipe is presented (without any tips for substitutes or a heads up on the tools), but if you have access to the ingredients and can find a way to set up a steamer, you won’t be disappointed with this recipe. I’m giving it a 9/10. If the ingredients were more available, it were less tedious, and could easily be made with everyday tools, this recipe would probably get a perfect score. But hey, no pain, no gain.