Xôi Lạp Xưởng (Sticky Rice with Chinese Sausage)

My daughter woke up from her afternoon nap and wanted to eat something besides the noodle soup that I made for lunch and dinner. She's probably tired of eating che dau trang (sweet white bean dessert) since she just had it this morning and a few bowls for the last several days.  So, Grandma suggested sticky rice. Bingo! My kids love the aroma, texture, and sweetness of sticky rice as Grandma often makes it for them for breakfast.  It was almost dinner time and I wanted my kids to have some protein beside the carbs from the sticky rice.  So I sauteed lap xuong (chinese sausage) with fresh chopped garlic, shallots,  our homegrown green onions and cilantro and soy sauce. A wonderful aroma indeed! Then I worked these ingredients into the sticky rice.  

The whole process from cooking the rice to preparing the filling took about 20 minutes but it seemed like 2 hours for my daughter who  kept saying,  "Why are you taking so long Mommy?".  Someone must be very hungry.

If you make just a small pot of sticky rice and you want to enjoy it in 20 minutes, skip the soaking and steaming process. You just need to rinse it and it's ready to cook.  As for lap xuong, I prefer to boil it first to keep it moist.  If you chop it off first and then fry it, you will find that it's dry once you bite into it.  One caveat: since I tried to make it quick, I didn't measure the water  and sweet rice.  The amount of rice and water in this recipe is only an estimate and may need adjustment :-)

RECIPE: Xôi Lạp Xưởng

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Ingredients

2 cups of sweet rice

3 chinese sausages (also available at Costco) - boiled for 5 minutes and cut it into any size you prefer. 

2 green onion, chopped ( about 1/4 cup)

1 shallot, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2-3 teaspoons of soy sauce

1/4 cup of cilantro

1 teaspoon of oil

Fried Shallots (optional)

Making Sticky Rice

Rinse the rice and pour it into a pot.  Add about 1/2 inch of water above the rice and boil it.  Reduce the heat to low.  Stir it up and cook it for about 15 minutes.  Add a little bit more water if it looks dry to you. 

Making sausages

Heat the oil in a pan.  Add garlic and shallot.  When they turn golden brown, add sausages, cilantro and green onion.  Stir it evenly for about 30 seconds.  Turn off the heat then add soy sauce.  Mix it up.  Pour the sausage mixture into sticky rice and mix it well. 

Sprinkle some fried shallots on top of sticky rice and enjoy.