Rice & Fried Rice · Chinese home cooking
Rice Cooker Sausage and Mushroom Rice
Jasmine rice steamed in a rice cooker with rendered Chinese sausage, shiitake and peas, the savoury fat tinting every grain a light amber before scallions are folded in.
About this dish
This is the kind of pot that announces itself before it is served. As the sausage renders you get a sweet, faintly smoky smell and the fat turns glossy at the edges; that fat seasons the whole dish. The mushrooms add an earthier, damp aroma to balance the sweetness. Once the cooker takes over, the only sound is a low burble under the lid, then a quiet click. The finished rice is a soft amber, with green peas and dark shiitake visible in every spoonful.
Before you start
Equipment: Rice cooker, Skillet. Tap the ingredient checkboxes as you go.
Method
7 steps · tick each one off as you finish it.
Rinse the rice
Rinse 270 g of rice under cold water off the heat for 60 seconds until the runoff is clear, then drain 2 minutes. The grains should now look matte and opaque, with no cloudy water left in the bowl.
Render the sausage
Warm 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat for 45 seconds, then add 200 g of sausage coins. Cook 3 minutes until the fat renders, the edges curl and you smell a sweet, smoky aroma.
Cook the mushrooms
Add 180 g of shiitake slices and 20 g of garlic to the skillet over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring often. You know they are ready when the caps darken, the garlic turns pale gold and the pan smells earthy.
Load the cooker
Tip 270 g of drained rice into the rice cooker with 310 ml of water, 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of sesame oil over the low heat setting for 10 seconds. It has had enough when the liquid just covers the grains.
Run the cycle
Spread the sausage, mushrooms and 80 g of peas over the rice without stirring, close the lid and run the standard cycle for 35 minutes on the cooker's automatic heat. Call it done when the switch clicks and the vent steam thins.
Rest and drizzle
Rest off the heat for 10 minutes with the lid on, then drizzle 1 tbsp of soy sauce over the rice for 20 seconds. You can tell it is done when the grains lift cleanly and the peas stay bright green.
Fold and serve
Fold in 40 g of scallion and 1 tsp of sesame seeds off the heat for 30 seconds until evenly scattered. It is ready to serve when the rice carries an even amber tint from the sausage fat.
Tips that matter
- Render the sausage in a dry pan first; the released fat seasons the whole pot, so you need only 1 tbsp of added oil.
- Slice the shiitake caps thinly so they soften in the 35-minute cycle rather than staying leathery among the soft grains.
Easy variations
- Replace the lap cheong with 200 g of sliced smoked bacon, rendering it 4 minutes over medium heat until the edges crisp.
- Add 100 g of diced carrot with the peas for a sweeter note and a few orange flecks through the amber rice.
Questions that come up
My rice came out greasy. Why?
Too much rendered fat went in. Pour off all but 1 tbsp from the skillet before adding the mushrooms, and keep the water at 310 ml so the grains stay separate.
Can I use dried shiitake?
Yes, soak 30 g in 150 ml of warm water for 20 minutes, then use that soaking liquid as part of the 310 ml of water for a deeper flavour.
Nutrition, roughly
| Energy | 510 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 18 g |
| Carbohydrate | 60 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
Estimated per serving from standard ingredients, rounded. Treat it as a guide, not clinical data.
Rice, Water and Heat: A Ratio Field Guide
Why one cup of rice does not always want one cup of water, and how to tell a cooked pot from a steamed one before you lift the lid.
