Rice-cooker sticky rice with Chinese sausage & shiitake
When the autumn wind blows, it's time for cured sausage: rice-cooker sticky rice, rich with sausage and shiitake, keeps you warm all morning.
- 50 min
- Serves 3
- Rice cooker
- Easy
Why it suits you: Yang Deficiency means feeling the cold, with chilly hands and feet. Glutinous rice is sweet and warm and heats the spleen and stomach, while sausage and dried shrimp add warming richness — a small bowl keeps you warm all morning as Frost's Descent cools. Keep the portion small and chew well.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 35 min- 1The night before, rinse the glutinous rice and leave it to soak. Soak the shiitake and dried shrimp, keeping the mushroom water.
- 2In the morning, drain the rice and dice the sausage and shiitake.
- 3Heat the oil in a wok and gently fry the shallots, dried shrimp, sausage and shiitake for about 2 minutes, then toss with both soy sauces.
- 4Mix the rice and the fried ingredients in the rice cooker, add mushroom water until it just covers the rice, and press cook.
- 5When it clicks off, leave it covered for 10 minutes, then fluff it up, add the spring onion and serve.
Cautions
- Chinese sausage is high in salt and fat — go easy if you have high blood pressure or cholesterol.
- Sticky rice is hard to digest; have a smaller bowl when your appetite or digestion is poor.
Chef's tips
- Make a big batch and freeze it in portions; sprinkle with a little water before microwaving and it softens again.
The TCM view
Glutinous rice is sweet and warm, building qi and warming the spleen and stomach; Chinese sausage is sweet, salty and warm, and dried shrimp is sweet and warm and supports kidney yang; shiitake is sweet and neutral, strengthening digestion and cutting the richness. Warm overall — but sticky rice is heavy, so one small bowl is enough.
