P
Chinese
Steamed Glutinous Rice with Lap Cheong (Lo Mai Gai)
Glutinous rice mixed with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil, combined with Chinese lap cheong sausage (lop cheung — dried, sweet, fatty pork sausage), dried shiitake mushrooms, and chicken — wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed. The lotus leaf imparts a specific, delicate, hay-and-smoke aromatic to the glutinous rice during steaming — one of the most distinctive and evocative smells in Chinese cooking. Lo mai gai is a dim sum standard and a demonstration of indirect aromatic infusion through the wrapping medium.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
400 g
glutinous rice
soaked overnight in cold water, drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4
dried lotus leaves (he ye)
soaked in warm water 1–2 hours until fully pliable
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
6
dried shiitake mushrooms
soaked in warm water until soft, sliced; soaking liquid reserved and strained
Your own market
300 g
chicken thigh, boneless, skinless
diced
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the chicken marinade
1 tbsp
soy sauce
1 tbsp
oyster sauce
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tbsp
Shaoxing wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
cornstarch
Origin · ChinaWismettac · Vancouver →
For the rice seasoning
2 tbsp
soy sauce
2 tbsp
oyster sauce
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
sesame oil
Your own market
60 ml
strained shiitake soaking liquid
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To finish
1 m
kitchen twine
cut into four lengths; or use the dried lotus leaf stem
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Combine the diced chicken with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, and cornstarch and turn to coat evenly, so the cornstarch seals the surface and holds the marinade against the meat rather than letting it weep into the rice later. Set aside while the remaining components are prepared. The chicken is ready when the surface is lightly opaque and the marinade has been absorbed rather than pooled.
From the canon — Oyster sauce was invented by accident in the 1880s in Guangdong province when a cook named Lee Kum Sheung left oyster soup simmering too long and discovered … Oyster Sauce (Cantonese — Original Method vs Commercial) →
2
Submerge the soaked, drained glutinous rice in a steamer basket lined with muslin or perforated paper and steam over vigorously boiling water until the grains have swelled and turned translucent at the edges but retain a firm, chalky core at their centre — this 80% cook leaves the rice able to absorb the seasoning liquid and finish cooking inside the parcel without turning to paste. Remove from the heat and fold through the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and strained shiitake soaking liquid until the grains are evenly coated.
3
Examine each soaked lotus leaf: it must be deep olive-green throughout, fully pliable, and release its characteristic hay-and-smoke scent when handled, because a leaf that has not soaked long enough will crack during folding and leave the parcel open to escaping steam. A leaf that splits when folded should be returned to the warm water until it bends cleanly. This is where the dish lives or dies: a torn leaf cannot seal the parcel, and an unsealed parcel steams the rice unevenly and loses the aromatic exchange between leaf and grain.
4
Lay one lotus leaf flat on the work surface — use two overlapping if the leaves are small — and place a quarter of the seasoned rice in the centre, spreading it into a rough rectangle. Arrange a quarter of the sliced lap cheong, shiitake, and marinated chicken over the rice, then cover with a further layer of rice, enclosing the filling completely so the filling is insulated on all sides and cooks gently in the steam trapped by the parcel rather than drying at the edges. Fold the sides of the lotus leaf over the rice, then fold the top and bottom to produce a firm, sealed rectangular parcel, and secure with kitchen twine or a strip of lotus leaf stem; repeat for the remaining three parcels.
5
Arrange the parcels seam-side down in a steamer basket over vigorously boiling water, so the weight of the parcel presses the seam shut and prevents it from opening as the steam pressure builds inside. Cover tightly and steam for 30–40 minutes; in the final 10 minutes, the characteristic hay-and-smoke aroma of the heated lotus leaf should be clearly perceptible above the steamer without lifting the lid, confirming the leaf has reached temperature and is perfuming the rice. If the aroma is absent, check for insufficient steam pressure or a parcel wound too tightly with twine.
6
Remove the parcels from the steamer and rest for 2 minutes. Bring to the table unopened; the release of steam and lotus-leaf aroma as the parcel is cut or unwrapped at the table is integral to the dish.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Large, intact, aged dried lotus leaves from a specialist Chinese grocer; lap cheong from a Cantonese charcutier using traditional pork-fat-to-lean ratios and Shaoxing wine curing; heirloom glutinous rice; whole dried shiitake with thick, cracked caps (donko grade).
02
Estate — Good-quality dried lotus leaves without tears; imported Cantonese lap cheong (vacuum-packed); Japanese dried shiitake; short-grain glutinous rice from a reliable Asian supermarket.
03
Market — Standard dried lotus leaves from any Chinese grocery; supermarket-sourced lap cheong; dried shiitake of ordinary grade; standard glutinous rice.
04
House — If lotus leaves are unavailable, the dish cannot be made as described — the lotus leaf is not interchangeable. Lap cheong may be supplemented with a secondary cured pork, but the rice and lotus leaf are fixed.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. Soaked lotus leaf is uniformly deep olive-green and bends without cracking or splitting.
◇Smell. The soaked lotus leaf releases a faint hay-and-smoke aromatic when handled before wrapping.
◇Sight. Par-steamed glutinous rice grains are swelled and translucent at the edges but retain a firm, chalky core — 80% cooked.
◇Touch. The finished parcel is firm and holds its rectangular shape without bulging; the leaf folds do not spring open.
◇Smell. Hay-and-smoke lotus-leaf aroma is perceptible above the steamer in the final 10 minutes of cooking, without lifting the lid.
◇Where it lives or dies. The lotus leaf must be soaked until fully pliable and deep olive-green, and the steam must be vigorous enough that the hay-and-smoke aroma is perceptible above the steamer in the final ten minutes; if the leaf tears on folding or yields no aroma during steaming, the aromatic infusion — the defining act of the dish — has not occurred.
Pillar V
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The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
SOV Wheated Rye Whisky
Sons of Vancouver Distillery · Metro Vancouver
Sons of Vancouver Distillery · North Vancouver →Whisky
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance