If there’s a downside to Chinese New Year, it has got to be the calories for there are just so many delicious foods to eat! But don’t worry, the sixth dish of our Top 8 CNY Dishes series puts a healthy spin on one of the easiest traditional Cantonese dishes: home cook Karen Kon’s Rice Cooker Lap Mei Fan 臘味飯 or waxed meat rice.
Traditionally, Lap Mei Fan is made with white rice. But to balance out the oiliness of the waxed meats, we will be using brown rice. Not only is it a healthier alternative that helps limit the guilt of feasting during CNY, it’s also good way to ensure you are getting some fibre and minerals too!
Best of all, omitting the claypot method and using a rice cooker makes easier and healthier dishes that requires little monitoring.
Rice Cooker Lap Mei Fan 臘味飯
Cured meats (Lap Mei 臘味) are customarily made during winter as the cold dry season is perfect for preserving the meats. Thus, during CNY a month or so later, there are plenty of cured meats to be had and when cooked with rice, that is how the Lap Mei Fan is conceived!
Hearty, meaty, and savoury, this dish is perfect for CNY potlucks and dinners. You can also choose from the variety of waxed meats available in the market such as the lap cheong, yun cheong, lap yuk, and Chinese preserved duck leg to customize the dish to your preference.
Customize this dish with your favourite lap mei!
Here are the ingredients you will need: brown rice, dried mushrooms, scallops, Chinese sausages, duck or pork liver sausage, waxed duck thigh, blanched bok choy, shallots, garlic, oyster sauce, premium sweet sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, olive oil, and hua tiao chiew.
Before we begin, cook the brown rice in the rice cooker as per normal first so that it will be ready when the other ingredients are too.
The first step is to prepare and cook the mushrooms and scallops.
In a small bowl, add the scallops, mushrooms, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Mix well.
Add scallops, mushrooms, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce to a bowl.
Mix well until combined
Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the mixture. Add some water to bring out the flavour then stir fry for two minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Stir fry the mushrooms and scallops then set aside
Next, toast the cured meats for a more aromatic dish.
All types of cured meats can be prepared and cooked using the same methods. To prepare the cured meats, simply boil them for a while in a pot of water. Remove the casing (for the sausages) and slice them as desired. Boiling time differs for each of the different meats.
Heat up a pan on low heat and toast the slices of cured meats on both sides for two minutes. Once done, remove from the pan and set aside.
Toasting waxed duck thigh
Lap cheong
Duck liver sausage
Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and add the minced garlic and shallots. Stir fry until fragrant then add all the sauce ingredients into the pan, adding hua tiao chiew last.
Stir fry the garlic and shallots then add the rest of the sauce ingredients
Mix well then remove from heat
Mix the sauce well then add it into the cooked brown rice when it is ready. Add the mushrooms and scallops and mixed well with a spatula.
Pour the sauce into the cooked brown rice
Add the mushrooms and scallops and mix the rice well
Flatten the mixed rice with the spatula then arrange the toasted cured meats on top of it. Close the rice cooker and press cook mode on the rice cooker again.
Place the toasted lap mei on top of the rice and press cook again on the rice cooker
Once the Lap Mei Fan is cooked, plate onto a serving dish and add some blanched bok choy on the side. Serve hot.
Plate the Lap Mei Fan and serve hot
Get the recipe here!
- 250 g brown rice
- 5 dried mushrooms soaked overnight and cut into strips
- 3 Dried scallops soaked overnight
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 Chinese sausages boiled, removed casing, and sliced
- 1 duck liver sausage boiled, removed casing, and sliced
- 1 waxed duck thigh boiled and sliced
- 3 bok choy blanched
- 4 medium sized shallots minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tbsp premium sweet black sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 15 g brown sugar
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp hua tiao chiew
- 3/4 tbsp olive oil to fry
- In a small bowl, add the scallops, mushrooms, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Mix well to combine.
- Heat up some oil in a frying pan and add the mushrooms, scallops, and sauce. Add a little water to bring out the flavour and stir fry for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Dry fry the sausages and waxed meat in a pan for 2 minutes to toast them. #Tip: you can skip this step but toasting the waxed meat makes a more aromatic dish!
- In a frying pan, add the olive oil, minced garlic and shallots. Fry until fragrant then add all the sauce ingredients with hua tiao chiew as the last ingredient. Mix well.
- Add the sauce, mushrooms, and scallops into the cooked brown rice and mix well.
- Place the sliced sausages and waxed meat on top of the rice and press cook mode on the rice cooker again.
- Once cooked, plate the Lup Mei Fan on a serving dish and garnish with the bok choy
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