Cantonese Cabbage Rice

粵式包菜饭

This is a very nutritious one-pot meal. 

Main Ingredients

2 cups Thai Ho Mali rice (I use the rice measuring cup that comes with rice cooker)

50g dried shrimps 

3-4 dried Shiitake mushrooms 

200g sliced pork (I bought the cut of meat called "不见天", bu jian tian)

8 leaves of cabbage (tear/cut into small pieces, buy the flat variety of cabbage)

8 small onions (to make crispy shallots as toppings)

2 cloves of garlic (minced/chopped)

Method

1. Soak the dried shrimps and mushrooms in separate bowls for at least one hour. Once the shrimps are soft, drain them and reserve the liquid. Once the mushrooms are rehydrated, squeeze out the water and reserve the liquid. Then cut away the stems and cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Filter the liquid from soaking the dried shrimps and mushrooms, and measure them. Top up with more water to make 440ml which will be used to cook the rice.

Note: As the cabbage leaves will release water during cooking, we need to reduce the total amount of water to cook the rice. Guideline is around 73% to 75% of the usual amount of water. In this recipe, I reduced the water from 600ml (normal amount to cook 2 cups of rice) to 440ml.

2. Wash the cabbage leaves, tear/cut them into small pieces and set aside. 

3. Marinate the pork slices with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon corn flour, dashes of white pepper and 1 teaspoon cooking oil (to prevent the pork from clumping together).

4. Cut the onions into very thin slices and set aside.

5. Wash the rice and drain the water. Put the rice in the pot/rice cooker and set aside (do not cook yet).

6. Add sufficient oil (around 4-5 tablespoons) in the wok and fry the onions under low heat until golden brown. Remove the shallots from wok.

7. Using the remaining oil in the wok, fry the shrimps under medium-low heat until fragrant. Then add in the garlic and stir fry for 1 minute. Add in the mushrooms and stir fry for another minute. Pour in the reserved water (from step 1) and bring to boil. Turn off the fire. Transfer the mixture to the rice. Do not stir the rice.

8. Place the cabbage into the rice pot/cooker, followed by the pork slices. Cover the pot/cooker and start to cook the rice as per normal.

9. Once rice is cooked, add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Use a pair of chopsticks to stir the rice and the ingredients. 

10. Serve hot with spring onion, crispy shallots and sliced chilli.