I bought a bag of sticky (glutinous) rice after eating really good sticky rice at a dim sum place. A friend said they had made before and it wasn't too hard. Of course I bought a bag the next time I was at the grocery store . . . I shop at an Asian grocery store so its easy. Then I just left the bag in my cupboard for a couple of weeks as I hadn't bothered to buy any banana leaves. You wrap the rice in them, you don't eat them . . . though they do smell of bananas. I finally noticed frozen banana leaves while shopping and picked up a pack. I needed to figure out how to make a dish now. I googled a bunch of recipes but none were quite right. So, I mixed them together and this is the recipe I came up with.
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| Baked and ready to be eaten! |
Ingredients:
Rice:
-2cups sticky rice
-3 3/4 cup water
-1/4 tsp salt
Filling:
-small container tofu
-container of mushrooms (I used oyster as I like them)
-some oil (olive)
-some flavored/seasoned vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
-2 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 tsp ginger
-2 tbs fish sauce
-1 tbs soysauce
-1 tbs brown sugar
-2 tsp chili paste
Other:
-toothpicks (6)
-banana leaves
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| Sticky rice bundle = goal |
1. soak rice in water for about 1 hour. (if your banana leaves are frozen put them out to thaw)
2. stir in 1/4 tsp salt and turn on high heat.
3. when boils stir and turn heat down to medium-low and cover 3/4 of the way with the pot lid for 10 minutes.
4. when water is gone take off heat and let sit, covered, for at least 10 more minutes. Let cool so you can work with it.
5. dice the tofu and mushrooms.
6. Heat oil (about a tbs) on medium-high in a wok or large pan and add the tofu. Cook until brown. If the pan drys out add some vinegar. When they are brown add the mushrooms and a drizzle more oil in. Stirfry until they shrink up.
7. Turn heat to medium-low. Mix up all the other filling ingredients to make a sauce and add to the pan. Cook until it is thick and not drippy. Take off heat and let sit.
8. Cut banana leaves into 6 squares about 1' by 1' and 6 squares about 10" by 10". Put the smaller square inside the larger square and make sure the growth lines of the leaves go in opposite directions. this will stop leaking.
9. place sticky rice in the middle of the leaf in a 4" x 4" x 1/2" square. Put two heaping tablespoons (or whatever looks good) in the middle of the square. Put a glob of rice on the top. Wet your fingers and push the rice together so the filling is contained.
10. Wrap the rice up in the banana leaf like a present . . . fold the top, bottom, left, and right sides in. Pin shut with the toothpick. Repeat for 6 large packets of rice.
11. Refrigerate any packets you don't want to eat immediately. To finished bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or microwave until fully heated.
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| Sticky rice in a pan . . . |
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| Filling all cooked up - it is spicy |
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| Mostly shut . . . |
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| hole is plugged and ready to be wrapped |
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| Baked with the toothpick out |
The result was delicious. I felt they had just the right amount of spice! I would make them a tough saucier next time I think. So, if you want to increase the proportions a bit that would probably be a nice touch. Yum!
Note - this is actually pretty easy, but you can use it to show off for a dinner party!
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