Asian Sticky Rice can easily be made in a regular stock pot. Use any protein you like, or make it meatless. This sticky rice recipe is flexible and unbelievably delicious.
Cook Asian Sticky Rice in a Pot
If you’ve eaten Asian sticky rice, you know the glories of it. Traditionally, it’s often wrapped and steamed in ti leaves to a soft and savory perfection. Other times, sticky rice is served family-grub-style, straight out of a rice cooker outfitted with big spoons to scoop up all the goodness.
Dim sum restaurants in particular are known for plucking mini trays of sticky rice from their magical cart. Lucky for all of us, we don’t need any enchanted tools to make irresistibly delicious sticky rice at home.
All we need are basic Asian pantry ingredients and our favorite stock pot. This is a no-ti-leaf, totally grub-style sticky rice recipe for all the days.
glutinous “Sweet” rice is Gluten-Free and Doesn’t Taste Sweet
The rice of choice for sticky rice is typically labeled glutinous rice or sweet rice. It may occasionally even be labeled sticky rice. However, it won’t taste like dessert unless you want it to, as it takes on whatever flavor you give it. In this case, we’re going for 100% savory. Also, despite it’s name, glutinous rice contains no gluten.
Variations and ingredient substitutions
- Dried Shitake mushrooms (they’re very different from fresh Shitake) provide a wealth of umami to this dish, but if you can’t source it, feel free to sub with any other mushrooms. You can also omit mushrooms entirely, if you’re not a fan.
- Canola oil, olive oil, or almost any vegetable oil will work
- In a pinch, 1 teaspoon ginger powder can be used in place of the fresh ginger
- White pepper boasts a distinctive fragrance, but black pepper can be used if you can’t find the white variety
- Vegetable broth or beef broth can be used in lieu of chicken broth
- Any ground meat or finely chopped meat can be used in place of the ground turkey; of course, you can make it meatless.
- If you want to skip the meat but still want protein, feel free to top your bowl with roasted sliced almonds or chopped cashews.
- Add veggies to your sticky rice; fresh peas and chopped bell peppers are great choices.
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Asian Sticky Rice can easily be made in a regular stock pot. Use any protein you like, or make it meatless. This sticky rice recipe is flexible and unbelievably delicious.
Ingredients
For sticky rice:
- 3 cups short-grain glutinous or “sweet” rice (not sushi rice)
- 1 cup dried Shitake mushrooms
- 1 TB vegetable oil
- 1 TB finely minced, peeled fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
- 1/3 cup Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 4 TB regular soy sauce
- 3 TB Asian oyster sauce
- 4 tsp Asian pure sesame oil (dark-amber color)
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 2 1/3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
For ground meat mixture:
- 1/2 lb ground turkey (pork or beef are fine, too)
- 2 TB Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 TB regular soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Prep ahead: Fully cover rice with water and soak for 3-4 hours. Drain in sieve and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Soak mushrooms in warm water about 1 hour. Drain and finely chop. Set aside.
- Combine all ground meat mixture ingredients in a bowl; stir to combine thoroughly. Cook seasoned ground turkey in large skillet, breaking it up into small bits. Set aside cooked meat.
- Heat a heavy large pot (I use my largest All-Clad) with 1 TB oil until hot. Add ginger and stir fry for a minute. Add cooked meat and mushrooms, stir frying for another minute. Stir in rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, and drained rice. Stir to coat thoroughly. Add broth, stir to incorporate, and bring to a low boil.
- Once mixture reaches a low boil, immediately reduce to simmer. Cover tightly and cook 45 minutes. Turn heat off and let it sit for at least 10 minutes, covered. Do not peak!
- Carefully stir cooked sticky rice, from bottom to top throughout. Cover and let stand another 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with freshly sliced scallions, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
If you’d like, see original article for recipe variations and ingredient substitutions.
Prep time takes into account rice soaking time.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ♡
Keywords: Asian sticky rice, Sticky rice recipe, Glutinous rice
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I am totally up for sticky rice! This is going on my to-cook list! Thanks it looks delicious!
Looks delicious!
This sounds really really good. But I’m skeptical of my ability to actually cook sticky rice. Do you have a brand of rice you recommend?
Any brand of glutinous or “sweet” rice (not actually sweet in flavor) will work for you 🙂 I happen to have a random “Apple Brand” in my pantry right now. You can do it!
Lovely looking rice indeed.
Best,
Conor
Everyone in my house loves sticky rice and your version looks wonderful! I am going out to get the ingredients to make this as written and a veggie version (tofu crumbles and veggie broth) for my daughter. Thanks!
Yummm–I will try this next week! http://bmoreenergy.wordpress.com
Hej from Sweden!
Looks and sounds delicious! Thanks for posting.
Nice blog by the way.
Welcome to my blog: http://gulringstorpgoatsblog.wordpress.com
Third time I’ve made this recipe, so I though I’d better comment and say how good it is! So addicting. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Yay, Jen! Thanks for taking the time to come over and let us know that you like it! 🙂
Hi! I can’t wait to try this. We grew up eating this and now it’s time I learn how to make it. My mom never used a recipe to make it but now that she wants to pass it down to me, she’s not certain of her measurements. So I have a couple of questions, she thinks the amount of broth sounds too little so I’m wondering if you can confirm the amount is just enough. The second question is, do I use medium or low heat to bring the broth to a boil? Thanks! We can’t wait to try making this!
So excited for you to try this, Phyllis! Yes, the liquid ratio is correct as written; be sure to soak the rice for the time specified. You can use medium heat to bring broth to a boil, but be sure to immediately reduce to a simmer once it reaches boil. Cover and cook as written. Enjoy!!
this rice recipe sure looks very tasty! Might try this sometime 🙂
Being Asian, I think this could go well in my palate. I hope I could taste this dish someday.
yummy! these looks so fantastic…….. I love these rices…….
This is my favourite actualyy. I must say that you have given me a good idea on what to cook for todays lunch.
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Yummm!! These look so fantastic and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing it!
this recipe looks so delicious I will like to do it
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Rice always looks so scrumptious when it’s combined with other ingredients…. especially veggies!
This Asian Sticky Rice looks really good and yummy. I will absolutely give this a try.
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These look so fantastic and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing it