Lotus Leaf Rice/Chan Gee Kai/Pearly Wrap

A popular dish to be served during the Chinese New Year and a must have order in the Dim Sum restaurants. This dish is sometimes called Loh Mai Kai , Hor Yip Fun or Chan Chu Kai. To me, Loh Mai Kai's ingredients are pretty similar but it is not wrapped up with lotus leaves as in Hor Yip Fun and the meats used are in slices or chunks. This recipe below is called Pearly cos the meats used are all diced into tiny or mini cubes, making them look like Pearls.

Ingredients:

2 cups glutinuous or sticky rice - soak for at least 3 hours
1 cup normal rice
4 pieces chicken thighs, seasoned with five spice powder, sesame oil, Chinese wine, dark and light soya sauce, sugar and pepper.
5 Chinese dried mushroom - soaked and cut into cubes

11/4 cup dried shrimps, wash and soak
5 cloves garlics and 10 shallots - chopped
1 pair of Chinese sausage - diced into cubes

1 piece Lap Yoke - soak in hot water, then remove rind and diced into cubes

Enough Chicken Stock to cook the rice

Oil for frying

Lotus leaves for wrapping

Method:

Soak two lotus leaves till soft (takes a few hours).

Boil the lotus leaves in hot water. Wash the leaves under running water. Drain, dry and oil the leaves.

Heat wok with a little oil, fry the lap yoke and lap cheong , remove and leave aside..

Fry dried prawns till fragrant then add garlic and shallots .

Add in chicken, mushroom and all the ingredients including the rice. Continue to fry until the rice has been coated with oil.

Sprinkle chicken stock into the rice and continue stirring. Add some dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, pepper and continue to stir and add in more chicken stock until rice has soaked up all the stock and about half cooked (more stock will give a softer texture to the rice)

.
Let the rice cool a bit for easier handling

Put the lotus leave in a huge bowl, pour in the rice mixture. wrapped it up and cook in the pressure cooker. It may take very much longer if you steam in the conventional way but I with the pressure cooker, it takes only 10 minutes.

Serves