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No Mi Fan - Savory Sticky Rice
Learn how to cook simple three ingredients no mi fan (Chinese savory sticky rice) in a rice cooker, essentially an easy version of bak cang, or lo mai gai.
There are two really classic Chinese sticky rice dish, one is bak cang (粽子), and the other one is lo mai gai (糯米鸡). The first one is wrapped in bamboo leaves and served during dragon boat festival, while the later is wrapped in lotus leaves and commonly found in dim sum.
I love both versions, and I especially love my Mom’s bak cang which she makes annually (I know, I know, I am so spoiled when it comes to good food ♥). Since I am no expert in wrapping a cang, I just make this super simple version when a craving for one hits me.
Purists are probably gonna hate me for tempering with their bak cang or lo mai gai, not to mention I dare to use a rice cooker too! But, I will take all the hatred hurled at me as long as I can have my bak cang/lo mai gai fix whenever I want one. :P
The ingredients needed to prepare no mi fan - Chinese savory sticky rice
Just like regular bak cang, you can make a super fancy no mi fan, or make a really simple one. For this recipe, I only use these three ingredients, which to me is perfect for non special occasions:
- white sticky rice,
- rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms (Tips: always save the soaking water as stock to make flavorful no mi fan),
- Chinese sausages
If you need something fancier, you can add the followings too:
- salted egg yolks
- roasted/boiled chestnuts
- soaked dried shrimps
- chicken meat/pork meat cut to bite size pieces
So feel free to pick and choose what you want to add to your no mi fan, and if you have some favorite ingredients that I miss out, do share them with me in the comment. :)
Dried shiitake mushrooms and the shiitake stock (a.k.a. shiitake soaking water)
Lately, fresh shiitakes have been getting more and more common, and I think they are perfect for a quick stir fry job with some Chinese greens. But for no mi fan (or bak cang/lo mai gai), please stick to using dried shiitake mushrooms.
Also, be sure to soak them in plenty of water (for this recipe, about 2 to 2.5 cups of water) to rehydrate.
Hopefully, once the shiitake mushrooms are back to their fluffy state, you are left with about 2 cups of natural shiitake stock. Using this shiitake stock to cook the no mi fan gives a much flavorful result than simply using water or chicken stock, so please don’t throw the soaking water away.
The ingredients for no mi fan sauce, and my note on Shaoxing wine
The last important part to prepare no mi fan is the sauce. And for that, you will need the following ingredients:
- Shaoxing wine (if possible, choose the one with 0% salt like Pagoda brand)
- dark soy sauce
- oyster sauce
- sesame oil
- salt (only add salt if your Shaoxing wine has 0% salt)
- ground pepper
A note on Shaoxing wine. If you are using good quality Shaoxing wine that has 0% salt, then use the salt in the recipe to prepare your no mi fan sauce. If you notice that your Shaoxing wine contains salt, then please don’t add any more salt to the sauce or the no mi fan may end up too salty.
Two step process to cook no mi fan, stove top and rice cooker
Once all the prep work is done, it is time to finally cook the no mi fan. Here is the two step cooking process:
1. Start on the stove top
Fry garlic, scallion (white parts only), Chinese sausage, shiitake, sticky rice, and no mi fan sauce in a wok/frying pan on the stove top.
2. Finish in a rice cooker
Then transfer the ingredients from the wok/frying pan into the rice cooker pot, add shiitake stock (a.k.a. shiitake soaking water) and let the rice cooker cook the rice with “cook rice” or “white rice” function.
Remember to wait 10 minutes once the rice cooker turns to “keep warm” function. Add scallion (green parts) and close the lid and wait another 10 minutes before fluffing and serving the no mi fan.
No Mi Fan - Savory Sticky Rice
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced, separate the white parts from the green parts
- 4 Chinese sausages (Indonesian: lap cheong), cut into 1 cm slices diagonally
- 6-8 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 500 gram white sticky rice/white glutinous rice (Indonesian: beras ketan)
- Sauce (combine the following)
- 4 tablespoon Shaoxing wine, preferrably with 0% salt
- 4 tablespoon dark soy sauce (or use 3 tablespoon light soy sauce) (*)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt, only add this if your Shaoxing has 0% salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper/ground black pepper
Instructions
- Overnight soak: Soak shiitake mushrooms in 2 cups of hot water until soft and puffed up, cut into thin slices and reserve the soaking liquid. Soak white sticky rice in cold water for 8 hours or overnight, drained.
- In a wok/frying pan, heat sesame oil on high heat. Sauté garlic and white parts of scallions until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add Chinese sausages and stir for 1 minute. Add shiitake and stir for 1 minute.
- Pour the sauce ingredients into the wok/pan and cook for 2 minutes.
- Turn off heat and add the glutinous rice and stir until everything is well mixed. Transfer the rice mixture into a rice cooker pot. Pour the 2 cups of shiitake soaking liquid into the pot. It should just be enough to cover all the rice mixture, if not you can add some more water to cover the entire rice mixture.
- Place the pot into your rice cooker, and cook with "cook rice" or "white rice" function until it turns to "warm", which means the rice is cooked at this time. Wait for 10 minutes, then open the rice cooker lid and add the green parts of the scallions and close the lid again. After another 10 minutes, open the rice cooker and stir with a paddle to fluff the rice. Serve immediately.
Notes
- (*) Dark soy sauce gives the dark color to the no mi fan. Using light soy sauce will result in much lighter color no mi fan. Since light soy sauce is actually saltier compared to dark soy sauce, be sure to use only 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce to substitute 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce.
Comments
Look so good. I'm going to give it a try without the lap cheong :)
Atika, you can try using chicken thigh since thigh meat contains more fat than breast meat, and we really want the fat for this dish :)
Ayamnya dimarinade dulu gak mba Anita?
Boleh dimarinade dulu. Kira-kira untuk 1/2 kg chicken thigh meat, marinade with 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon minced ginger, dan 1 teaspoon ground white pepper. Biar ayamnya lebih gurih :)
Thanks so much mba Anita :)
Sama-sama Mba Atika. ♥
I'm so glad I came across your blog. I just returned from a trip to visit my husband's family in Hong Kong, and we were missing the food. I tried this dish, and the flavors and texture are spot on. This recipe is a definite keeper in our household, and we'll be making it many times over. I'm looking forward to trying more of your recipes in the future!
Thanks JC, I am glad you like the recipe.♥
Hi Anita, I love to get a good recipe for the Indonesian dish I remember is Lemper. I think it is glutinous rice with some dried prawns wrapped in leaves. I hope you can get that for me as I have craving for that here in Australia. Thanks Don
Hi Don, here is my lemper ayam recipe. I hope you will give it a try :)
Hi Anita, Many thanks for your prompt reply! I shall try it our when I get the ingredients! Don
How many cups of glutinous rice is 500 grams? I want to try this recipe, and I want to make sure I'm following the instructions carefully. Thank you for posting the recipe and thank you in advance for your answer!
Hi Uyenchi, 500 gram glutinous rice = 2 regular US cups. Have fun with the recipe :)
Thank you for the prompt reply. I've tried this recipe a couple times and both my toddlers (one of whom is an extremely picky eater), and they both love it! I love this recipe because it's a great recipe to build on. Some of the modifications I made are: 1) I only use 3 tablespoons of soy sauce instead of four; 2) I use chicken stock to cook instead of water to add more flavor; and 3) I add black beans for extra nutrients for my kids. The best part is I can cook it in a rice cooker! Thanks again for sharing the recipe. Definitely a keeper and my go-to for sticky rice.
I've used this recipe numerous times. My family loves it, it is my toddler's favorite meal. Thank you for posting it, a lot easier than the way I used to make it (without the rice cooker).
Just tried your recipe and it turned out delicious! Thank you for sharing.
thank you for the delicious sticky rice [no-mi-fan savory] wonderful...we all loved it
Yum! So when are you going to share your mom's bak cang recipe with us? Nunggu peh cun dulu? :D
Wahaha, lebih nunggu rajinnya dateng dulu :D
Yum...after reading online quite a few ways to cook glutunous rice I'm happy I chose your method. Even though I especially went out and purchased a splatter guard I still decided to chuck everything in to my rice cooker. That was the first time I had used my rice cooker. (Hey, Chinese girl here knows how to cook rice without electric contraption) Delicious.. easy to follow and now I don't have to wait to go to Yum Cha to indulge. Thank you
Hi, I just want to make sure Does the time needed to cook the sticky rice is same with the time needed to cook regular white rice? Because my rice cooker has 2 different cooking option (for white rice and brown rice) Thank you in advance
Hi Avinda, mine only has one "cook" button and I only use it to cook white rice. So my guess is it is probably better to also use the white rice option for your rice cooker. Cheers!
i tried the recipe tonight. good flavors! some modifications... ~Did not presoak rice, used sushi rice in place of what was recommended above ~Cooked ground chicken in peanut oil and then added the rest of ingredients in wok ~Separate bowl added the sesame oil with the rest of the wet ingredients ~Placed wok ingredients in rice cooker with sushi rice. Then added the wet ingredients over it ~After rice is done, mixed and added cilantro and green onions to top it off. DELICOUS!
Your version sounds really delicious Bonny :)
Was there dried shrimp in the ingredients, somehow I missed seeing it, but I know it's one of the ingredients I like to add to the rice. Thank you for posting this, I'll try it for our Thanksgiving meal!
Hi Esther, I didn't add it to my minimal version, but you can certainly add dried shrimps to your no mi fan. In the article itself, I suggested adding salted egg yolks, roasted/boiled chestnuts, soaked dried shrimps, and chicken meat/pork meat cut to bite size pieces. So you can add even more than just dried shrimps. :)
Hi there. Can I omit the wine entirely or is there a substitute I can use should I not wish to use wine? I recently came across your blog and tried your claypot chicken recipe and it was delicious!
Hi Quraishah, if you wish to avoid using wine, you can substitute with 4 tablespoons of water/chicken stock. If using chicken stock, be sure it is unsalted so the final dish doesn't become too salty.
Hello, is it ok to double the recipe or will I need to make ant changes? If the latter, what changes would I need to make? Thank you!
Hi Sandra, you can double the recipe by simply doubling all the ingredients. Just make sure your rice cooker capacity is large enough and can handle the double amount.
So flavorful and easy to make - thank you!!
This looks like such a yummy and unique dish! I'm always looking to try something new, thanks for sharing!
This recipe is so much easier than it looks and it's super delicious. Thanks for sharing!
This looks like a recipe that I will be making over and over. Pinned to make later!! Thanks for the recipe :)
Love how you made this using the rice cooker! Sticky rice is a favorite of mine. These flavors sound absolutely incredible.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I was wondering if you could prepare this dish in a pressure cooker? How long do we have to cook this then?
Hi Cindy, I don't own a pressure cooker/Instant Pot, so I haven't personally tested it. But you can try following the instruction in this post: https://twosleevers.com/pressure-cooker-chinese-sticky-rice/. I think it should work out. :)
Yum!! I love savory rice and this looks so good. Very authentic, Im hooked.
Hi Anita I don't have a rice cooker could I do it in a slow cooker on hi or low? Also for how long? Any tips would be appreciated.
I'm not sure you can do it in a slow cooker. If I were you, I would separately cook just the sticky rice first. The most traditional way would be by steaming.
First, soak the sticky rice overnight just like you would have to for this recipe. Drain the water from the rice (no need to shake off the excess water), and evenly arrange the soaked sticky rice on a heat-proof, rimmed plate or bamboo steamer lined with natural steamer liners or parchment paper. Cover and steam for 30-40 minutes. And the sticky rice is fully cooked.
To prepare this recipe with cooked sticky rice, follow step 1 and step 2, then instead of step 3 and 4, add the sticky rice to the wok and stir and mix the rice like you would making fried rice. Once everything is well mixed together, add the scallions and stir again. And it's done. :)
Hi Anita, Will a 3 cup rice cooker accommodate the 2 cups of rice + all of the goodies? I'm also adding black-eyed peas since it's one of the ingredients in Chinese joint which is one of my absolute favorites.
Hi Milton, I think it will be very tight, if not impossible. I've tried this with a 4-cup uncooked/8-cup cooked rice cooker, and it fills almost to the brim.
Hi Anita, I would like to know how many cups of water should I add into 1cup (250gr) of uncooked white sticky rice (excluding the other ingredients) into the rice cooker? Thanks so much. Cheers, Yuli
Hi Yuli, for 500 grams of rice (per recipe), I usually use 2 cups of shiitake soaking liquid. It should be enough to just cover all the ingredients in the rice cooker pot with enough liquid. If for some reason, 2 cups of liquid is still not enough to cover all the ingredients, add just a tiny amount until the liquid covers everything. For 250 grams, it is possible that you may only need 1 cup of liquid, but again, add enough liquid to cover the ingredients. :)
Hi! My zojirushi rice cooker has a setting for sweet rice. Would you use that or would you use the white rice setting still?
Hi Michael, my rice cooker is not from Zojirushi, but it does have different rice settings and I have always used the white rice setting and it always comes out perfect. I'm not sure how it will perform with a Zojirushi rice cooker, but based on my experience, I am more inclined to think that the regular white rice setting is the better choice.
Delicious, and a lot less trouble than wrapping and steaming.
Very good. Used 2.5 cups of rice, 3 sausage, 8-9 mushrooms, 2-3 green onions. Stir fried the dried rice but keep adding water and covering the lid to cook until soft.
How can I infuse the flavor of the bamboo leaves into the mai/ rice of the bak cang? I have tried before but not enough of the flavor of the leaves. Seems to be imparted into the rice. Thanks so much!
Hi Sally, unfortunately we will be missing the bamboo leaves flavor if you use this recipe.
The best way to at least add some of that missing flavor would be to line the bottom of the rice cooker pot with bamboo leaves, then once we add all the ingredients, we add another layer of bamboo leaves at the top.
Of course, be sure to treat the leaves as you would for making bak chang/zong zi (i.e. soak for 5 minutes, wash thoroughly, and steam for 15 minutes before using).
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