Sharon’s Special Sticky Rice Recipe

Sharon’s special sticky rice recipe is an allergy aware version of her mom’s Chinese Style Sticky Rice or “Nor May Fan,” which is pure comfort food with memories of holiday celebrations with family, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Lunar New Year!

Disclaimer: Please check that all ingredients are suitable for your allergies and be sure to ask your medical care team regarding any allergy related questions (I do not share medical advice). As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What is Chinese Style Sticky Rice?

Each bite of traditional Chinese style sticky rice has tender morsels of glutinous sweet rice and savory nibbles of salty Chinese sausage “lop cheung”, minced rehydrated shiitake mushroom, dried shrimp, chopped scallions, and other goodies clinging to the glistening rice. It’s a very colorful side dish to the eyes and mouthwatering for the taste buds. This Cantonese dish is often served at holiday dinners and serve it as a Chinese alternative to a traditional American stuffing during Thanksgiving.

Why I had to adapt Sharon’s Special Sticky Rice Recipe

Sticky rice is my favorite dish to make for a holiday potluck or for a special occasion. But it became a dish that I had to adapt due to food allergies.

My older son loves to eat rice and meat but I was quite puzzled about why he wouldn’t eat sticky rice. We eventually learned that he has a strong aversion to mushrooms but it wasn’t until he told me that he felt mild symptoms associated with eating mushrooms that we finally had our allergist help us with a skin test which turned out to be a borderline allergen.

Now that I omit mushrooms, everyone in our family can enjoy sticky rice again. At our most recent appointment with our allergist, it seems that my younger son has finally and definitively outgrown his shrimp allergy. He wants to eat ha gow (steamed shrimp dumpling) and now can scarf them without any adverse effect, lucky boy! After years of omitting dried shrimp, we can have dried shrimp in our sticky rice (whoo-hoo)!

Nut Allergy Alert for Vegetarian Sticky Rice

It’s a meaty dish but can be prepared vegetarian as well by using the dried and fresh vegetable options and seasoning with a mock oyster sauce made from mushrooms.

Nut allergy warning: if someone else makes a vegetarian sticky rice for you, be aware that some vegetarian Chinese sauces contain peanuts and some vegetarian sticky rice recipes include the addition of peanuts. Be sure to check ingredients of any vegetarian dishes before serving to someone with a nut allergy.

How to Adapt Sticky Rice for Your Food Allergies

The most basic and traditional recipes for sticky rice will contain Chinese sausages (lop cheong), dried shrimp, dried shiitake mushrooms, and chopped scallions and seasoned with soy sauce and/or oyster sauce.

But what if one can’t find Chinese sausages or avoids nitrates or is allergic to shrimp or mushrooms? Sticky rice with green onions might be too plain, but you can use other kinds of ingredients combining a few savory meats and seafood, some flavorful dried and salted vegetables, and some fresh produce.

I will share a basic recipe for simplicity, but just to give you an idea on how to accommodate various food allergies and dietary preferences, choose 1-2 items from each category below and use small amounts of each in order not to overwhelm the overall flavors and textures.

• Savory meats and seafood: Chinese sausages (lop cheong, 2-3 sausages, diced), Chinese bacon (lap yuk, 1/2 to 1 piece, diced), Chinese BBQ pork (char siu, 1 cup diced), ground or diced pork (3/4 to 1 pound if that’s the only meat, otherwise use less), bacon (3-5 pieces chopped), dried shrimp (1/4 cup, soaked and diced), dried scallops (2-3 scallops, soaked and separated)
• Dried vegetables: dried shiitake mushrooms (soak and dice, save soaking water to cook the rice in the rice cooker), dried salted radishes (rinse and dice), dried lily buds (rinse, tie one knot in the middle, and use scissors to cut off the stem)
• Fresh produce: onions (diced), shallots (diced), green onions (chopped, separate greens and whites), carrots (diced), celery (diced), jicama or water chestnuts (peeled and diced)

Allergy Safe Ingredients to Make Sticky Rice

Rice: Koda Farms is my favorite brand of glutinous sweet rice and according to a statement on their website, their products are top 8 allergen and gluten free. It’s also easy to find at any Asian supermarket ($7-8 for 5 pound bag, $15 for 10 pounds). If you can’t find it in your local stores, then you can order by mail (instructions are on the Koda Farm website) or online. 

I also buy brown glutinous rice from Nijiya, which is our local Japanese supermarket. It’s not as soft and requires cooking with more water but definitely worth the extra effort because of the positive health benefits of more fiber, nutrition, and satiety.

Soy or seafood allergy: Most sticky rice recipes will season the rice with a combination of dark soy sauce, soy sauce and/or oyster sauce. If you are allergic to soy, you can cook raw rice by using chicken or vegetable broth instead of water in a pot or a rice cooker or season steamed rice with salt for flavor and use moderate amounts of soy sauce alternatives for color. 

Seafood allergy: Some recipes will use dried shrimp or dried scallops, it’s easy to simply omit it. If you want to add color, use diced carrots. If someone is allergic to seafood but not allergic to soy, one can use a vegetarian oyster sauce made from mushrooms (which we cannot use).

Cooking Tips for Sticky Rice Success

Soak the rice (4 hours, up to overnight) and then steam it for 20 minutes or use a rice cooker according to its instructions. My rice cooker has a non-stick liner and a sticky rice mode which makes it super easy (I have the 10 cup version of this Zojirushi rice cooker, affiliate link).

Make the savory mix-in in a wok or a large non-stick stock pot:

Depending on which ingredients you choose to use, there is a certain order in which to add ingredients: render fat from sausage, bacon, add dried seafood, add onions and/or carrots, add all other diced and chopped ingredients (except celery and/or green onions), add seasonings.

If using ground pork: marinate 1/4 to 1/2 pound with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. After step 14, take the sausage mixture out of the pan and brown the ground pork and onions together. When fully cooked, discard any excess fat or liquid, return the sausage mixture to the pan, and resume cooking at step 17.

Combine the rice and sausage mixture in by either

• a) adding the sausage mixture into the rice cooker – this step is easier if you have a rice cooker with a non-stick liner otherwise
• b) adding the cooked rice to a large non-stick stock pot and stir-frying the rice and sausage mixture together

Finishing touches

Season to taste with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and/or soy-free soy sauce and mix in chopped celery and/or green onions.

This recipe as written is free of peanuts, tree nuts, egg, dairy, and fish. Please check all ingredient labels before using or see what’s in my cupboard for ingredient ideas. For more information about ingredient labels, read my post about reading ingredient labels. 

5 from 4 votes

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Sticky Rice

Sharon's special sticky rice recipe is an allergy aware version of her mom's Chinese Style Sticky Rice or "Nor May Fan," which is pure comfort food with memories of holiday celebrations with family, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Lunar New Year!

Course dinner, lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword sticky rice

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 3 cups glutinous rice or 4 “muks” using a typical rice scoop
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimp optional, can substitute with 1/4 cup diced carrots
• 2 links Chinese sausage lop cheung
• 3 slices bacon optional
• 1/2 sweet onion medium
• 3 stalks scallions
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce *
• 1 tablespoon rice wine or mirin
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Instructions

Prepare Ingredients

1. Rinse and soak glutinous rice for at least 4 hours, drain when ready to use.

2. Rinse and soak dried shrimp for 10 minutes (reserve the soaking water for cooking or stir-frying the rice). Rough chop and set aside.

3. Cut a sausage in quarters lengthwise and then dice, set aside.

4. Optional: Trim off any large sections of bacon fat, rough chop bacon , set aside.

5. Peel and dice 1/2 onion, set aside.
6. Chop scallion, separate green and white parts, set aside.
7. Dice celery, set aside.

Rice Cooking Methods

1. Rice Cooker: Cook the rice in a rice cooker according to instructions (add 3 cups of water or 3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth if there is a soy and/or seafood allergy allergy). You will need a large frying pan for the next step.

2. Steamed Rice: spray a 2-quart or larger bowl with non-stick cooking spray, add rice (no water) and steam for 15 minutes, stir, and then steam for 15 more minutes (making sure that there's enough water at the bottom of your pot). You will need a large non-stick stock pot for the next step.

Cook the savory mix-ins

1. Heat up a large frying pan (if you are cooking with a rice cooker) or a large non-stick stock pot on medium heat.

2. To the cold frying pan (or pot), add the chopped Chinese sausages and bacon and stir fry until some fat is rendered.

3. Push the sausage/bacon mixture aside, add dried shrimp to the rendered fat, and stir fry for 1 minute.

4. Add chopped onions and white parts of the scallions, stir fry 2-3 more minutes until soft.

5. Remove and discard any excess liquid or fat.

6. Add soy sauce, rice wine (or mirin) and sugar, and remove from heat.

Combine the ingredients

1. If the rice is cooked in a rice cooker: when the rice is ready, add the sausage mixture on top of the rice but do not stir, just cover and let the rice continue to steam (press reheat if your rice cooker has that feature).

2. After about 5-10 minutes, add the celery, scallion greens and oyster sauce, then use a spatula to gently fold the ingredients together. Keep warm in the rice cooker for 5 more minutes (press reheat if your rice cooker has that feature).

3. If the rice is steamed in a pot: reheat the pot containing the savory ingredients and then transfer the rice to the wok or large non-stick stock pot with the savory mix-ins, add 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce, add 1/4 cup of hot water (up to 1/2 cup total), remaining green onions and celery, and stir fry until everything is evenly mixed.

Recipe Notes

If using ground pork: marinate 3/4 pound with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. After step 14, take the sausage mixture out of the pan and brown the ground pork and onions together. When fully cooked, discard any excess fat or liquid, return the sausage mixture to the pan, and resume cooking at step 17.

*if allergic to soy, omit the soy sauce and cook the rice with chicken or vegetable broth instead of water 

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